Yu Darvish Impressive, Ubiquitous in Spring Debut

The Texas Rangers paid a massive posting fee of $51,703,411 in order to negotiate with Yu Darvish. They then committed a 6-year $60 million contract to the 25-year-old right-hander before he had thrown a single Major League pitch. I was an English major in college, but I’m pretty certain that that’s a lot of money. Since all the offseason hubbub, Rangers fans and baseball enthusiasts everywhere have been anxiously awaiting the chance to see Darvish pitch against Major League hitters. Yesterday afternoon, all were granted their wish, as Yu Darvish made his Spring Training debut, blowing up the internet in the process.

The statistical portrait of Darvish’s outing looks something like this: 2 innings, 6 outs, 36 pitches, 26 strikes, 9 swings and misses, three strikeouts, zero walks, zero runs, two doubles, and one notable defensive play. I don’t know why I changed from typing the actual numbers to spelling them out midway through that stat line, but let’s just roll with it. An impressive performance, to be sure. It would be responsible to remember that this outing came against the San Diego Padres, and near the beginning of Spring Training, but to hell with that, let’s just gush!

Grantland’s Jonah Keri called Darvish “a treat to watch,” saying “you’re going to love watching this guy pitch.” ESPN’s Keith Law noted 7 different pitches in Yu’s outing and praised his “nasty stuff.” Hardball Talk’s Craig Calcaterra described his performance as “the beginning of what’s bound to be a fabulous career.” This is just a small sample of the praise that was heaped upon Darvish during and following his turn on the rubber. Twitter went crazy. Puns were everywhere. It was chaos. Amid the pandemonium, I was able to salvage a few additional choice tidbits of unofficial and unauthorized commentary on Darvish:

• After his outing, Yu Darvish was awarded both the AL Rookie of the Year and MVP trophies by commissioner Bud Selig.
• During warmups, Darvish showcased 30-40 different pitch variations, including a reverse changeup, a gyroball, a knuckleball, an eephus pitch, a knifeball, and a 6-seam fastball.
• After watching Davish’s debut, Peyton Manning announced his intention to sign with the Texas Rangers as a free agent.
• Whilst striking out, Carlos Quentin whiffed once, pulled the bat back onto his shoulder, and whiffed a second time as the ball slowed down and then dove past home plate.
• After Will Venable made solid contact, driving a pitch to deep center field, Darvish turned and watched the flyball, audibly comanding “stop.” The ball slowed in midair and crashed into the high outfield wall, falling for a mere double.
• The Texas Rangers have agreed to give Darvish’s old team, the Nippon Ham-Fighters, and additional $18.5 million. They now feel embarrassed for getting such a good deal.
• After removing the right-hander from the contest, Manager Ron Washington announced Darvish as the Ranger’s super-duper-utility-in-and-outfielder, saying Yu would be available as a late game defensive replacement for all positions on the diamond.
• Yu Darvish will be the Ranger’s opening and next game after that day starter.

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Kyle writes baseball nonsense at The Trance of Waiting. You can follow him on Twitter @AgainstKyle.