Know Your Darvish
Sooner or later, we’re going to see Yu Darvish in a Major League uniform. It might even be as soon as next season, though that decision has yet to be made.
Much has been written about the accomplishments that have led to the of hype and interest in Darvish’s eventual move to MLB, but not so much about the man himself. He’s an interesting guy, and we live in the information age, so let’s fix that.
• Darvish is half-Iranian, but was born and raised in Japan. His Farsi name is Farid.
• His nickname is Daru, a shortening of the Japanese pronunciation of his surname, “Darubisshu.”
• He blogs and tweets in Japanese, but gave those up because of tough practices.
• He is the only pitcher in NPB history to assemble five-straight sub-2.00-ERA seasons. Old timers Masaichi Kaneda and Kazuhisa Inao each had strings of four consecutive seasons, but they did it in the deadball era of the 1950s.
• Darvish played ice hockey as a child.
• He established the Yu Darvish Water fund in 2007, and he supports it with JPY 100,000 (about $1,200) per win. Darvish donated JPY 50 million (about $600,000) to relief efforts following this year’s devastating Tohoku Earthquake.
• According to a tweet from Feb. 17, Darvish has “no interest whatsoever in cars” and he “doesn’t have a license.” In 2008, he referred to an exercise bike as his favorite car.
• He experimented with a “gyro-cutter” in his 2010 NPB All-Star appearance.
• He’s also tried a one-seam fastball.
• Darvish likes to throw lefthanded in spring training (video clip).
• According to Wikipedia, his entry song is Like Toy Soldiers, by Emienem (I’ve never noticed it though).
It occurs to me that many Major League Baseball fans are forming opinions about Darvish without ever really having seen him pitch. Don’t be that guy. Be an informed Fangraphs reader, and watch Darvish’s last 2011 start here.
Gyro-cutter video broken within your link.
Pitch FX or it didn’t happen.
I have all the information I need already. To wit: he played hockey. Like Erstad! That’s how we know he has grit and heart. I am embarrassed as a citizen of the nation of baseball that a man with such heart is not already eligible for this completely non-insane award: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlbpaa/events/heartandhustle/index.jsp?partnerId=aw-6765854766586020937-1023
Nyjer Morgan played Junior Hockey…he’s not like him, is he?
It’d be really cool if he was.
No it wouldn’t. Nyjer Morgan is an asshole
As a half-Japanese man myself, I’d love it there were more Asians were personalities like T-Plush.
gyro-cutter
(YouTube)/watch?v=HGndfMAkDDI
2011 Darvish vs. Murton
(YouTube)/watch?v=wdt5sTydpjo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=tIj0M-luN14
Darvish vs softbank.
hes got great stuff. my only worry as a yankees fan is he seem from the video of him vs softbank to leave a lot of pitches in potentially dangerous places. thoughts?
that curve he hung at 1:54 wouldve cleared every right field in the major leagues
looks completely filthy here, though:
(youtube)/watch?v=3vpSQxQiz7A
gyro cutter?!?!? why not just throw a 2 seam douchebag.
Got to see him pitch in World Baseball Classic. Most Japanese pitchers aren’t very successful in MLB, but he’s going to be the exception – he not only has an electric arm but his personality means he loves the spotlight.