'Tremendous teammate' José Ureña returns to Miami

[Kevin Barral]

Once upon a time, José Ureña was the Opening Day starter for the Miami Marlins. In 2024, he's pitching for the Texas Rangers as they look to defend their World Series title. After facing his former team on Friday, Ureña spoke to Fish On First about where his career has taken him.

MIAMI, FL—On Friday, José Ureña made his first start as the opposing pitcher in the ballpark he used to call home. Ureña signed with the Florida Marlins for $52k out of the Dominican Republic in 2008. In parts of six MLB seasons as a Marlin (2015-2020), he posted a 4.60 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 6.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 through 597.0 IP. Safe to say that Ureña's tenure with the Marlins had its ups and downs, but he contributed to the team long enough to rank 12th in franchise history in innings pitched and 15th in strikeouts.

"It's something that feels great," said Ureña in Spanish a day after his start. "Those emotions are ones that you need to learn to control. I knew that I didn't get as far into my outing as I would've wished for. The goal of any starter is to go five innings." Ureña only lasted 2 ⅓ innings and took the loss against the Fish.

Ureña had the rare honor of being Miami's Opening Day starter in back-to-back seasons (2018 and 2019) and he did not take that lightly.

"That's something that you note as an accomplishment," said Ureña. "You give thanks to God that you're able to stay healthy in those moments and you give credit to them to have the confidence that you can do that job...You wanna go out there and be the number one and get the best out of yourself for the team."

Ureña was a veteran when the Marlins acquired St. Louis Cardinals prospect Sandy Alcantara in the Marcell Ozuna trade. Now a Cy Young Award winner, Alcantara speaks highly of how his former teammate treated him as a rookie.

"He was the first guy who opened his arms when I came here in 2018 for the first time," said Alcantara. "He was a tremendous teammate to me. Great person and great friend."

Alcantara noted how Ureña was a lead-by-example type of person.

"He doesn't talk too much. I was learning from him because there was a quiet guy who liked to work hard and that's what I saw from him. That's what I learned from him. Everywhere he goes, I was with him. I was watching everything he was doing and I think I got really good memories with him when we were working out in the weight room. The way that he worked, the way that he pitched in the game, he was a great guy."

Ureña shared his perspective on being a mentor to Alcantara. "That's something that comes for every player. They have the time and try to help out the new players that come—how they should behave themselves, what they should do to not run into trouble and get the best out of them."

Both players remain in touch and in fact, still play video games together.

Since Ureña was non-tendered by the Marlins following the 2020 season, he has signed with six different teams. Through 15 games (five starts) with the Rangers, he's posted a 3.74 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 6.1 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 through 45 ⅔ innings pitched.

With the Marlins, Ureña was a sinker-heavy pitcher. That pitch is still averaging 95.5 mph in 2024, but the slider has become his most-used pitch.

"That just changes over time," said Ureña in regard to his pitch usage. "You have your reports and you begin to realize that you can be more efficient attacking with a different approach that isn't exactly your strong suit. Not leaving your strong suit because you are going to use it at any moment, but you use it to build up your arsenal. I do think that helps out a lot as well."

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