Keep an Eye on Yu Darvish at this year's WBC

Yu Darvish is not your typical 22 year old. Far from it. While many of you may not have heard of this black haired fireballer, he is not only one of the best pitchers in Japan, he’s probably one of the best pitchers in the world. The half-Iranian, half-Japanese Darvish may sound more like a character from Kill Bill, but the only killing he’s been doing the last few years is hitters, and lots of them. Over the last 2 years, Darvish’ ERAs have been 1.82 and 1.88. He has a combined 418 strikeouts compared to 102 walks. He has allowed 20 home runs in 408.1 innings pitched. His WHIP for those 2 seasons is 0.88. He is 31-9. The only thing more ridiculous than those stats is the fact that he was 20 and 21 years old when he achieved them. If that’s even possible. Darvish also won the Sawamura Award, the Japanese equivalent to the Cy Young, in 2007, becoming the youngest pitcher since none other than Daisuke Matsuzaka won it in 2001 at the age of 21. The 6’ 5”, 180 pound Darvish has a low 90’s fastball, as well as a curveball, sinker, slider, changeup, and knuckle-curve. Recently, Peter Gammons stated that he predicts the posting fee for Yu Darvish, should he decide to come to MLB, could be as high as 8 figures. While this is now unrealistic, as Gammons’ statements were before the recession, it is still a huge testament to the talent of Yu Darvish.

Many of us will have the chance to see Darvish for the first time in this month’s World Baseball Classic. He was selected for the Japanese team, and will most likely be their #2 starter, behind Matsuzaka. It will be very interesting to see how Darvish is able to recover from a disappointing effort in the Olympics, where he was 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 7 innings. Darvish’ 2nd appearance on a truly world stage (arguably 1st, as Olympic baseball is not particularly well watched) will not only be a test of character, but a test of maturity on a young man who has, at times, shown that he is immature, but also at times played like a pitcher twice his age. Should he plan on coming to pitch sometime soon in America, the World Baseball Classic will no doubt be a good place to have a great showing, and there is no question in my mind that he will catch the eye of every scout at his games, showing that he is the next great Japanese import to America’s pastime.