This article was originally published in NPB Tracker on December 29, but with many fans about to get their first chance to see Yu Darvish pitch in real life, I think it’s relevant to take another look at this. Hopefully it’ll make your Darvish viewing experience a little more interesting.
I was asked about Yu Darvish in an interview I did recently, and I thought I may have undersold him a bit, so I decided to take a closer look at him, albeit via grainy YouTube video. You won’t see me embed YouTube content on my site very often (don’t like black boxes when it disappears), but for Darvish I’ll make an exception. This is a highlight reel from a playoff game Darvish pitched against the Orix Buffaloes, in his penultimate appearance of the 2008 season.
Here’s a link to the original content on YouTube… and some selected highlights:
0:58 – 91 mph forkball
1:24 – curveball
2:18 – 93 mph two-seam fastball
2:40 – another forkball
3:02 – 96 mph heater
3:40 – 94 mph heater
4:17 – looks like a cut fastball, 91 mph
4:44 & 5:11 – 78 mph 12-6 curve
7:00 — 80 mph curve
7:32 — 91 mph cut fastball
8:00; 8:45; 9:00 — bat-busting 93 mph cutter; 92 mph high fastball; 80 mph hook
9:30 — curve, thrown harder and with a bigger dive than the others
9:54 — 94 mph fastball on the black
10:18 — huge break on this curveball
10:47 — 96 mph heater on the last pitch of the game (his 139th)
What we see in this video is that Darvish runs his straight fastball up to about 96 mph, has three pitches that clock at 90+ mph movement (two-seam, forkball, cut fastball), and a slower curveball. I’d say he commands everything but the fork pretty well. Good stuff, but take it with a grain of salt; Darvish did surrender nine hits and a run in this game.
Topics: Yu Darvish
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[...] Yu Darvish Viewing Guide : Baseball Digest [...]
Great post about Yu Darvish, my favorite international prospect. How many other pitchers have more than five plus pitches. Interesting question is whether he would rank higher than Strasburg if he came to America this season. We’ve done a few blog posts about Darvish and other international prospects on our site.
http://www.deepleagues.com/?p=679