Being a career National Leaguer, before last year I had only known Luis Urías by his Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs spreadsheets. Yes, he was a top prospect for the Padres - ranked as highly as #17 overall by Baseball Prospectus - before being traded with Eric Lauer to Milwaukee after the 2019 season for Zach Davies and Trent Grisham, and yeah, he had turned in a couple solid, if unspectacular years as the Brewers’ regular third baseman, but a star? Someone who is known across the league, beyond their respective team’s fandom? Not so much.
That changed during last year’s World Baseball Classic.