Bronx NY- Ramon Urias the 28-year old infielder with the Baltimore Orioles is proud of his heritage, one of 12 current major league players from Mexico and he makes it known about another Urias.
He and Dodgers lefthander Julio Urias, who won 20 games last season are not related.
But Luis Urias, the 24 year old Milwaukee Brewers shortstop, currently on the injured list with a bad quad, is his younger brother. Luis is currently on the way back and rehabbing the past few games with the Brewers single-A affiliate.
“We always talk to each other, we text each other probably every other day,” Ramon said prior to the Orioles taking the field Wednesday evening in the Bronx against the Yankees. “ Family loves it,” he said about two brothers on active rosters with Major League teams.
Always in the discussion with Major League Baseball is Mexico and plans to field a franchise, though last season Dominicans comprised about 10 percent of 780 players on opening-day active rosters and that number has increased a bit in 2022.
But that percentage of Mexican born ballplayers on active rosters is minimal with 12, as compared to others representing Latin America including two Urias brothers and Julio, who had that rare 20-game wins and 2.50 ERA with the 2021 NL champion Dodgers that fell short of a Cy Young Award.
“ I would love to see it one time a Mexican team in Major League Baseball and I think there are a lot of plans in Mexico for that,” he said.
Tuesday night in the Bronx, Urias became the 70th Mexican-born player to play in 100 MLB games and first since Giovanny Gallegos for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2020. He was also the first position player to hit the milestone since his brother, Luis reached the mark with the Brewers in August 2020 versus the Pirates.
Oliver Perez, the 41-year old veteran pitcher of the Diamondbacks leads active Mexican born players with 703 ballgames on the mound.
Awards, though, don’t matter to Ramon. He is proud and privileged to be playing everyday in the Orioles starting lineup. Wednesday night, in the Bronx it was another two-hit game in four at bats for a struggling and young team that is expected to again finish at the bottom of the AL East standings.
“My goal here is to be a part of the next Orioles winning team,” he said with a confident smile.
This Urias brother recorded his third multi-hit game of the season as the Orioles lost their second straight of a three game series to the Yankees, 5-2. Despite the loss, Urias has hit safely in four of his last five games and five of his last seven.
Born and raised in Sonora, a town that thrives on baseball and makeshift fields, Urias has developed into a quality player that hits for average and gets on base. His glove at third base also gets praised as one of the best in the league.
“Feeling good, I feel like I’m having a ton of luck with good results,”he said. “Working out everyday to get better.”
A 99-day lockout between players and owners ,that caused a delay to the season, resulted in a brief four week spring training period which has seen players below average and various pitchers seeing their names on the injured list.
Both Urias brothers along with various other big leaguers organized their mini camps and conducted informal workouts at a makeshift facility in Phoenix, Arizona. Urias says getting a jump on baseball before the lockout ended was a tremendous help.
Though his average is .203 in 17-games, the on- base percentage is improving. His .301 OBP led American League rookies in 2021 and ranked fourth among Major League rookies. Urias became the ninth Orioles rookie since 1954 to record a season with an OBP of .380 or higher, and the first since Hyun Soo Kim in 2018.
One of his two hits was a single through the middle off a slider from Yankees relief pitcher Michael King. He has also developed into a good fastball hitter and got hold of a four seamer that went to center in the second inning off Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery.
But the Mexican heritage is something Urias brings home when playing in New York and Los Angeles.
“Feels good, we don’t have many from Mexico but everytime we go to Los Angeles the Mexican fans come and give you support.”
And there is not much to know, except Roman Urias is living his dream as one of the few MLB players from Mexico along with his brother and that 20-game winner in Los Angeles.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer with Latinosports.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
