The Texas Rangers had to pay $51.7 million dollars just to win the right to NEGOTIATE with Yu Darvish.  It then cost another $60M to sign him to a 6 year contract.  $111.7M for 6 years of Yu Darvish.  An incredible gamble to take at the time for the Rangers since Darvish had just played in Japan although he did pitch in an Olympics and World Baseball Classic.

In Darvish’s rookie season, he finished 16-9 with an ERA of 3.90 in 191 IP and WAR of 3.9.  He had 221 strikeouts (K rate of 10.4 per 9 IP) and a WHIP of 1.280.  He was an All-Star and finished 3rd in ROY voting behind winner Mike Trout and runner-up Yoenis Cespedes.

In 2013, Darvish has been ever better.  With a month left in the regular season, he is 12 – 6 with an ERA of 2.73 in 174.2 IP and a WAR of 5.1.  He has 236 Ks for a K rate of 12.2 per 9 IP and a WHIP of 1.025.  Better numbers across the board already with a few more starts to go.

While the numbers are impressive and he has the potential to continue to improve since he’s only 26, it is pitches like this curveball to Trevor Plouffe that is even more impressive to see:

Remember the Bugs Bunny cartoon when he’d throw the slow ball and the batter would swing 3 times at the same pitch and miss? Yu Darvish basically did the same thing to Trevor Plouffe with this 61 MPH curveball. RIDICULOUS!

When will teams learn to not run on Yasiel Puig? Not by last night, obviously. #LADodgers #Padres #MLB