Before he even stepped on a mound in the United States, Yu Darvish was making waves across the country. Now with the Chicago Cubs, Darvish is experiencing struggles that is plaguing his new organization.
The Chicago Cubs thought they had another strong starter in their arsenal when Yu Darvish signed with the team after the 2017 season. Although he has not panned out like his previous years, Darvish does have extensive success through his time in Japan and before joining the Cubs.
Drafted by the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), the top level of baseball in Japan, Yu Darvish would spend 6 years with the team before ultimately making the jump to the MLB.
Not for a lack of trying by MLB teams, as multiple teams courted Darvish when he was in high school, but he preferred to sign in the NPB instead of making the jump straight into the MLB.
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With the Nippon-Ham Fighters, Darvish would craft a 93-38 record with a 1.99 ERA. He would appear in 167 games, with 164 being credited as a starting pitcher.
When he was posted in 2012 (under the international free agency guidelines which you can find here), he was regarded as the best pitcher in the NPB and one of the top prospects to ever come out of Japan.
The Texas Rangers would end up signing Darvish, agreeing to a 6 year, $60 million dollar deal as well as a $51.7 million dollar bid to his previous team in order to secure rights to negotiate with the right hander.
He would spend 5 and a half years with the Texas Rangers, throwing a 52-39 record with a 3.42 ERA, 960 strikeouts, and 294 BB.
In 2017, Darvish was traded to the L.A. Dodgers midseason as insurance for the playoffs. While he was helpful in the NLDS and NLCS, Darvish would unravel in the World Series against the Houston Astros, losing both games he started.
“The Rangers were an old-school organization,” Yu Darvish said. “They had a lot of rules. I really didn’t like that. But I came to the Dodgers and was told I could do what I wanted. I felt a lot more relaxed. It made me love baseball more.” https://t.co/DhXONbGA7F
— Bryan Curtis (@bryancurtis) June 15, 2019
He would become a free agent after the 2017 season, signing with the Chicago Cubs for a 6 year deal worth $126 million dollars.
Since his debut with the Cubs, he has posted terrible numbers; uncharacteristic to what he was capable of when he was playing in Japan and with the Texas Rangers.
His career record with the Cubs sits at a 3-6 record and an ERA that has ballooned to a surprising 4.97 ERA. While pitching in 112 innings sine 2018, Darvish has surrendered 65 BB, 20 HR, 99 hits and 62 earned runs while striking out 130 batters.
So while the strikeouts numbers are there, Darvish is giving up extra base hits and is statistically walking a batter every second inning. Not easy to win games when you combine those stats together.
It also doesn’t help that Darvish got off to a rough start with the Chicago Cubs, as he would pitch 8 games into the 2018 season before multiple stints on the IL would see his season end early.
He was first put on the IL with impingement issues in his shoulder in May, and would be on the IL until he returned to a rehab game in August. During a rehab game, he would be placed on the IL again and would undergo surgery for a stress reaction in his right elbow, finishing his season.
Chicago Cubs
A tough way to start your first season with a new squad.
Fast forward to 2019, and Darvish has been healthy all year and has started 14 games for the Cubs. While he is healthy, he is unfortunately not throwing the ball well.
During those 14 games, he has an ERA of 4.98 with 44 BB, 63 hits, 13 HR, and striking out 81 hitters. Not the best numbers for a pitcher making roughly $20 million dollars this season.
This just begs the question, why is Darvish struggling so much with the Cubs given his success with the Rangers?
Looking at his velocity, when he first arrived in Texas, he would throw around 95 MPH with his fastball, and then had a devastating curveball that would reach low 80s/high 70s.
His fastball velocity is still around the same since 2012, but his curveball has gone up and down around 5 mph in velocity during that timeframe.
His changeup, like his fastball, has also remained consistent during his time in the MLB.
One interesting stat is his RHB vs LHB when he is on the mound.
Since joining the Cubs, Darvish has struck out more RHB and has kept hitters around a 1.95-2.00 batting average. However, when a LHB batter is in the box, the pitcher sees an increase in batting average (around 2.60-2.80 over both seasons), slugging, and on-base percentage, as well as increase in hits and home runs against.
While this is a bit expected given Darvish is a right handed pitcher (lefty/righty matchups), it could be a reason to his downfall given his RHB vs LHB statistics were closer in comparison (and lower overal) when he was with the Rangers from 2012 to 2017.
Whatever the reason is, Yu Darvish is just not pitching like he used to when he was a Texas Ranger.
While the tides could turn, the Cubs hope to see some improvement sooner rather than later, as Darvish has another 4 years to prove his $126 million dollar contract.
Unless Darvish decides to opt out of his contract after 2019 (he won’t, or at least he would be smart not too), Chicago Cubs fans will most likely see the Japanese hurler at Wrigley field for a few more years.