Video of Julio Urías gives MLB teams reasons not to sign him

Due to the angle of the video, it is not clear whether the haystack thrown by Julio Urías hit his wife.

What is undeniable is this: He struck.

The Times obtained a 72-second recording from the California Highway Patrol of the incident that ended Urías’ once-promising baseball career, and whose existence could jeopardize the former Dodgers left-hander’s chances of ever pitching in the major leagues again.

Does it matter whether the punch landed?

That may be the most important question facing Major League Baseball and its franchises as they decide whether the 28-year-old Urías deserves another chance to pitch on the sport’s biggest stage. Urías, who has not pitched this season, remains a free agent.

The commissioner’s office continues to investigate the incident outside LAFC’s BMO Stadium on Sept. 3 of last year in which Urías pleaded guilty to domestic violence. MLB has placed Urías on leave but has not said whether he will be the first player to be suspended twice under the league’s domestic violence policy. The time he missed this season will presumably count toward his sentence.

Assuming Urías is eventually cleared to play again, the league’s 30 teams will have to weigh the difference between what he has proven to do and what he has attempted to do. Not all teams may come to the same conclusion when deciding whether to sign him.

However, each team will pause while reviewing the video, which was provided to Bill Shaikin of the Times in response to a request under the California Public Records Act.

Urías pursues two women on a sidewalk before grabbing one of them, presumably his wife, from behind. He shoves her into a fence, whereupon they are separated by a man wearing an LAFC Carlos Vela jersey. Urías throws a roundhouse punch with his throwing hand and lets out a barrage of profanities in Spanish. The man in the Vela jersey continues to intervene and is eventually assisted by stadium security, whereupon Urías walks away.

The footage is uncomfortable to watch. Urías will have to complete a domestic violence treatment program as part of his confession, but the sights and sounds of his uncontrolled rage will be hard to put away. Professional sports are a business, and public opinion is almost as important as the court of law. The video may not stop Urías from finding another job in the MLB, but it certainly won’t help him.

After all, he made the hit.

There is nothing Urías or his representatives can say to change this reality. No argument they put forward can justify this behavior.

Urías only has himself to blame for his predicament, as he lost control of his future the moment he struck, and is now at the mercy of the sporting director, the teams and the fans.

What a waste.

Urías was widely expected to receive a nine-figure contract in his final season with the Dodgers last year, and was named the team’s Opening Day starter.

The former 20-game winner failed to live up to expectations on the field, going 11-8 with a 4.60 earned run average in 21 starts. The disappointment over his performance was nothing compared to the feeling of betrayal after the altercation at BMO Stadium. Fans here overlooked his previous suspension for domestic violence in 2019. The image of him celebrating his World Series-clinching save in 2020 was to them what Kirk Gibson’s home run was to the previous generation.

They will now remember Urías for a very different moment, one much darker and more violent. He cannot return to the Dodgers, and he will not. In the coming weeks, months, or maybe even years, he will learn if a new team will give him a new platform to create new memories in a new place.