Following a solid rookie year in 2012 Yu Darvish had his best season to date in 2013. The momentum from his near perfecto in his first start that year carried over throughout the season, as he went on to finish second in the Cy Young voting. Darvish, who was beat out by Max Scherzer for the award, registered a career best 2.83 ERA while leading the league in strikeouts (277), strikeouts per nine (11.9), and hits per nine (6.2).
Despite missing all of 2015 due to Tommy John surgery Darvish is likely the most successful starting pitcher to ever come from Japan. Hideo Nomo and Hiroki Kuroda have both registered more WAR but have also played more seasons, Mashahiro Tanaka and Hisashi Iwakuma are underrated but have yet to reach Darvish's apex, and Dice-K Matsuzaka was a failure in every sense of the word after his first two years. Simply put Darvish has the highest ceiling of the group moving forward.
Since he missed time last year he seems to be off everyone's radar as a great bet to win the American League Cy Young award heading into the season. While most pitchers struggle with their command following Tommy John, Darvish incredibly posted the best walks per nine of his career after coming back last year. Assuming he is his typically productive self this season he is set up for a monster contract when he reaches free agency at the end of 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment