After Julio Urías was arrested in May 2019 on suspicion of domestic battery following an incident in the parking lot of a Los Angeles mall, the L.A. city attorney’s office said it would not file charges against him, as long as the Dodgers pitcher participated in a 52-week domestic counseling program and committed no acts of violence for the next year.
When Major League Baseball suspended him for 20 games for that violation of its joint domestic violence policy, the Dodgers lauded the league’s action and said that “we are also encouraged that Julio has taken responsibility for his actions and believe he will take the necessary steps to learn from this incident.”
And Urías himself, while noting the incident had “no injury or history of violence,” said he understood major leaguers must be held to a higher standard. And that he’d “taken proactive steps to help me grow as a person on and off the field, and in my relationships.”
What a sad, sickening failure.
Sunday night, Urías was arrested and charged with felony corporal injury against a spouse, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, citing an incident in the parking lot of BMO Stadium, where Urías and many other luminaries came to watch Lionel Messi and Inter Miami play soccer.
And so, the well-worn process of MLB’s domestic violence adjudication begins again.
An investigation has begun. Administrative leave typically follows. Charges may stick or be dropped, often hinging on the desire or capacity of the alleged victim to cooperate with authorities. A suspension from MLB is close to a near certainty, given the circumstances and past precedent.
