Walbert Urena Is An Arm To Watch This Spring
February 23, 2025 - Written by Cade Lalim
Masterful outing from Walbert Urena!
— Rocket City Trash Pandas (@trashpandas) August 3, 2025
7.0 IP | 6 H | 1 ER | 2 BB | 5 SO pic.twitter.com/FM1v25wclN
Walbert Urena has been an intriguing prospect ever since he entered the Angels system. He is currently the 16th best prospect in the Angels system according to Baseball America, and has appeared in the Angels top 30 the last four years.
Urena is a 22-vear-old right-handed pitcher out of the Dominican Republic. He stands 6 feet tall, and weighs 210 pounds. He signed in March of 2021 for $140,000, as part of the Angels international signing class. He did not make his affiliated debut until the following 2022 season.
Urena was eligible for the rule-5 draft this winter and could've been selected by another organization. Instead the Angels decided to protect him and was the only player added to the Angels 40-man roster on the November 18 protection deadline.
Pitch Arsenal
Urena's best pitch is his power sinker sitting between 95 and 99 mph, while has touched 102. He also works with a slider that sits in the mid 80's, and a upper-80's to low-90's changeup. His sinker (60) and changeup (55) are graded as above average according to Baseball America, while his slider was graded below average (45).
Urena made his 2026 Spring Training debut on Sunday afternoon, where he pitched two innings totaling 32 pitches. He threw his sinker 13 times, which topped out at 99.8 mph, and hit 99 mph five times. Urena also threw his changeup 10 times, and his slider nine times. His changeup averaged 91.6 mph, while his slider averaged 84.4 mph.
Affiliated Results
Since Urena made his affiliated debut in 2022, he has pitched at every level in the Angels organization across four minor league seasons. He pitched to a 4.62 ERA with a 1.48 WHIP. Urena has moved his way through the minors as a starting pitcher, making 75 starts over 78 appearances.
Urena spent his first three seasons each at a progressively higher level. In his age 18 season with the ACL Angels, he pitched 37.1 innings. He struck out an impressive 10.8 batters per nine, but had a very poor 7.7 BB/9 ratio. His 3.86 ERA was solid, but his high 1.53 WHIP showed the traffic he allowed on the base path.
The next year, Urena made the jump to Single-A, Inland Empire, where his numbers regressed. He made 21 starts and logged 98.2 innings. His ERA skyrocketed to 5.66; this shows he may have gotten lucky in the complex league, since his H/9 and K/9 ratios got worse but cut his BB/9 ratio down to 5.5. His WHIP raised a little bit to 1.56.
His 2024 season with the High-A, Tri-City Dust Devils continued with the same pattern, with his WHIP remaining around the same, but seeing his BB/9 ratio jump, and strikeout rate decline.
In Urena's three seasons from rookie ball to High-A, he had never pitched more than 98.2 innings. That changed in 2025 where we saw a complete season from him. He made 28 starts, while logging 141 innings. He spent the majority of the year in Double-A with the Rocket City City Trash Pandas, but did make one start with the Triple-A, Salt Lake City Bees. He had a nice year, posting a career best 1.36 WHIP and a 4.7 BB/9 ratio.
Urena has never been a pitcher to give up home runs, as he's only allowed 18 home runs across 354.1 innings, resulting in a 0.5 HR/9 ratio.
Potential 2026 Role
Urena is heading into his age-22 season and looks to have a shot to log innings with the Angels. His odds of making the major league rotation out of camp are pretty slim, but the door is open with Alek Manoah and Grayson Rodriguez having to earn their rotation spots, per Angels manager, Kurt Suzuki.
Even with the door being open, there are plentv of other maior-league readv arms battling for the final two rotation spots. These include; Sam Aldegheri, George Klassen, Ryan Johnson, Caden Dana, Mitch Farris, Jack Kochanowicz, and Victor Mederos.
The bullpen is most likely where Urena would fit with the Angels this year. His power sinker and two off-speed pitches work well for a reliever role. He could slot into a long-relief role, and work his way into a bigger role if he performs well.
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