He was living a teenage dream, until it became a nightmare.
Julio Urias, the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher affectionately known as "the teenager," underwent season-ending surgery on Tuesday and will miss the next 12-14 months as he recovers.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Neal El Attrache in Los Angeles, to repair the anterior capsule in Urias' left shoulder that was injured on a pitch earlier in June with the Oklahoma City Dodgers.
Dodgers' President of Baseball Operations, Andrew Friedman, met with reporters last week and said that Urias initially felt a "tugging" feeling in his shoulder on June 10 and after throwing two fastballs clocked at 96 and 97 mph, respectively.
Urias pitched two more innings after the injury, and woke up the next morning 'really stiff" in his shoulder.
The 20-year-old pitching phenom flew back to Los Angeles shortly thereafter and underwent tests before a diagnosis was made last week.
The injury is cause for concern as historically, shoulder surgeries for pitchers have less of a success rate than elbow operations like Tommy John.
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The injury is expected to sideline Urias for the 2017 and 2018 season, with the Dodgers likely targeting a return for the Mexican left-hander in Spring of 2019.
Thankfully, Urias is still young and has plenty of time to return to an elite level.
"This is scary to think about," said MLB analyst Harold Reynolds. "He's still young, just 20 years old. To see him go down right now is scary."
Urias underwent the successful surgery on Tuesday morning, and posted a picture of himself before and after the operation on his Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Mientras más difícil sea tu camino,Dios multiplicará tus fuerzas y sabrán mejor las victorias #NEVERGIVEUP😜Puropa'👉🏽 pic.twitter.com/TeViHFMC2f— Julio Urias (@theteenager7) June 27, 2017
"The more difficult the road, God will multiply your strength and you'll know the better the victories. Never give up!" He wrote in Spanish on his post.
On Tuesday, before the team's game against the Angels, Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts gave an update on Urias.
"The surgery was a success," said Roberts. "I don't know in medical terms; all I know is seeing the [email[ thread from Dr. El Attrache, he's a lot more optimistic than he was when he was first going to do the surgery.
"It was very clean. There was some debridement he had to clean up. There was an attachment of some sort. All I know is that we as an organization, and Julio – it's a very positive outcome."
