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Buy the hype: 7 other highly anticipated debuts

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At last, Julio Urias is coming.

The 19-year-old Mexican phenom, baseball's top pitching prospect, will make his long-awaited debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday. Baseball fans have anticipated this moment since he signed in 2012 and proceeded to simply blow away every level of the minors. In Double-A last season, he crafted a 0.995 WHIP while striking out 74 batters in 68 1/3 innings. This year at Triple-A, he's sporting a 1.10 ERA and was called up while working on a 27-inning scoreless streak.

On Friday, Urias will become the latest in a long line of much-ballyhooed prospects to have a circus of a debut. As we prepare for that moment, here's a look back at some of the most anticipated big-league debuts in history.

Stephen Strasburg

Perhaps no draft-eligible pitcher was hyped more than Strasburg when he came out of San Diego State. The Nationals took him first overall in 2009 and promoted him to the bigs after just 11 minor-league starts. His debut at Nationals Park on June 8, 2010 was an instant sellout and a media spectacle. Strasburg struck out 14 batters - one shy of the big-league record for a debut - while consistently hitting 100 mph with his fastball.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Incredible hype surrounded Griffey, the first overall pick in 1987, as he debuted for the hapless Mariners on Opening Day in 1989 after skipping Triple-A entirely. And oh, did he live up to expectations. Hitting second for the Mariners in Oakland, he announced his presence by doubling off Athletics ace Dave Stewart in his first at-bat. There's a reason some called him "The Natural."

Fernando Valenzuela

The Dodgers called up a 19-year-old Mexican phenom who was dominating the minors - hey, this sounds familiar. Valenzuela actually made his big-league debut as a reliever on Sept. 15, 1980, when he threw two scoreless frames in Atlanta. He didn't allow a run in 10 relief appearances down the stretch, which served as a precursor to his historic rookie season in 1981 amid "Fernando-mania." Thirty-six years later, Dodgers history could be repeating itself.

Bryce Harper

Some have called him baseball's LeBron, and with good reason. Baseball had been waiting for Harper's debut since his "Sports Illustrated" cover appearance as a 16-year-old, and it happened on April 28, 2012 at Dodger Stadium after just 130 minor-league games. Attendance for the first game of this Nationals-Dodgers series, before Harper was called up, was 44,807; the next day's crowd was 54,242. That's 54,242 people showing up to watch a visiting player debut.

Joe DiMaggio

In 1933, the 18-year-old DiMaggio had a 61-game hitting streak in the Pacific Coast League. In 1935, he hit a measly .398. The Yankees, suitably impressed, bought him for $25,000 and five players. Amid incredible expectations - given the team's three-year championship drought, one writer dubbed him "the Yankees' Moses," according to his SABR biography - DiMaggio debuted in the Bronx on May 3, 1936. Batting ahead of Lou Gehrig in the lineup, he went 3-for-6 with a triple and three runs scored. Later that year, the Yankees won the World Series.

Alex Rodriguez

Though A-Rod's debut was highly anticipated, it didn't go so well. The first overall pick in 1993 breezed through three minor-league levels in 1994, and reached the Mariners on July 8 of that year. He didn't get his first hit until his second big-league game, and only played 65 games with the Mariners from 1994-95 while bouncing between the big club and Triple-A, but still showed flashes of what was to come. He eventually lived up to all that draft-day hype.

David Clyde

This is the one that went all wrong. Clyde, the Rangers' first overall pick in 1973, was compared to Sandy Koufax. He was supposed to make only his first two pro starts in Arlington to boost attendance before going to the minors. Clyde debuted on June 27, 1973 - just 19 days removed from high school - and struck out eight in five innings in front of the first sellout in team history. He was never sent to the minors, though, and the Rangers overworked him. By 1979, after just 84 big-league appearances, Clyde was out of baseball.

(Videos courtesy: MLB.com)

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