Julio Urias, the 2020 MLB World Series champion who represented Mexico at the 2011 WBSC U-16 Baseball Championship (now the U-15 Baseball World Cup), was awarded on the National Sports Award 2021 (Premio Nacional de Deportes 2021), Mexico’s top sports award. Mexican President and WBSC Global Ambassador Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador delivered the award for Urias, who won 20 games during the 2021 MLB season.
Urias had a brakthrough season in 2021, with an MLB-leading 20 wins season for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He ended the regular season with a 2.96 ERA and 195 strikeouts. In 2020, he retired the last out of the World Series, clinching the Dodgers’ first title since 1988 with a seven-out save.
Urias played on Mexico's National Team at the U-16 Baseball World Championship, played on home soil in Lagos de Moreno. Mexico finished fourth, and Urias pitched 2.1 innings in the bronze medal game that Mexico lost, 8-2, against Japan.
Last year, the Mexican National Women’s Softball Team received the Premio Nacional de Deportes after qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
