NEW YORK -- As a Mexican-born teenager making his major league debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers, there is no way for Julio Urias to avoid being mentioned in the same breath as Fernando Valenzuela.
But the similarities are going to end there, at least on Friday night.
Urias, who began the season as Baseball America's fourth-ranked prospect, became the youngest Dodgers player to appear in a game in 36 seasons Friday night, when he allowed three runs on five hits and four walks while striking out three over 2 2/3 innings against the New York Mets.
The 19-year-old Urias, who grew up about 1,100 miles south of Los Angeles in Culiacan Rosales, Mexico, is the first teenager to play for the Dodgers since Valenzuela debuted as a 19-year-old on Sept. 15, 1980.
Valenzuela went straight from Double-A to the Dodgers, for whom he made two appearances out of the bullpen in 1980 before setting off "Fernandomania" in 1981, when he won his first eight starts and won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award for the eventual world champion Dodgers.
"I was a little too young for The Beatles," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who turns 44 on Tuesday. "Obviously on a smaller scale, but when you're looking at Los Angeles baseball, there was a craze with Fernando. There was a frenzy."
There wasn't quite a frenzy surrounding Urias on Friday, but as a 21st century prospect, he was accompanied by a buzz that Valenzuela didn't begin building until he reached the majors.
Valenzuela grew up less than 1,000 miles south of Los Angeles in the town of Navajoa. The local boy made good quickly captivated an entire nation during a season in which the season was literally cut in half by the player's strike.
"What Fernando did, from Double-A to the big leagues, it took over everything," said Mets manager Terry Collins, who began his managerial career with the Dodgers' Single-A California League affiliate in 1981.
Kids tried mimicking Valenzuela's delivery, during which he gazed to the sky. And pitchers of every age suddenly wanted to throw Valenzuela's screwball.
"We had Jim Brewer (who) started going through the minor leagues and teaching the screwball because of Fernando," Collins said, referring to the former major league reliever who threw a screwball. "He was very dynamic."
Valenzuela's award-winning campaign began with him winning his first eight starts and completing every single one. Even before he was chased in the third inning Friday, that was never going to be the case for Urias, a product of the pitch count era who has never exceeded 90 pitches in a start.
"This is a different kid," Collins said. "This is a different kind of pitcher. This guy is not the same animal Fernando was."
With his big league debut out of the way, the Dodgers can now focus on helping Urias -- who displayed a four-pitch arsenal Friday that included a 95 mph fastball and a slider that ranged from 77 to 83 mph -- craft the type of career Valenzuela enjoyed. Valenzuela, who is one of the Dodgers' Spanish-speaking broadcasters, won 173 games, posted a 3.54 ERA, racked up 2,034 strikeouts and made six All-Star teams while pitching in the majors until 1997.
"I think naturally that's the comparison, but to compare anyone to Fernando -- what he did, after you look at the impact he made on the Mexican community as well as the Dodgers and baseball in general, is unfair," Roberts said. "Julio's Julio. I understand that comparison, but that's a tall order."