(Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish might not be the most consistent pitcher in the world, but he has demonstrated his considerable talent time and time again.
He achieved a cool feat on Monday night, becoming the all-time MLB strikeout leader for players born in Japan.
“With career strikeout No. 1,919, Yu Darvish sets the MLB record for most strikeouts by a Japanese-born pitcher,” B/R Walk-Off tweeted.
With career strikeout No. 1,919, Yu Darvish sets the MLB record for most strikeouts by a Japanese-born pitcher @Padres pic.twitter.com/3zBAzw2dI6
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) August 15, 2023
The coolest thing about it is that he only needed 1,615.1 innings to break the record.
For reference, Hideo Nomo (the pitcher Darvish just surpassed) needed 1,976.1 frames to get his 1,918 punchouts.
That’s an impressive strikeout rate in its own right, but not as good as Darvish’s.
Darvish came to the league in 2012 and was advertised as the next big thing in pitching.
It’s fair to say he has lived up to those expectations, with a cool career 3.56 ERA and all those strikeouts.
This season, however, his ERA stands at 4.24 in 127.1 innings, with a 1.26 WHIP and 131 punchouts.
The right-hander will be staying in San Diego for a while, as he signed a six-year, $108 million extension, covering him through the 2028 campaign.
He will turn 37 on Wednesday so it’s definitely a risk by the Friars, but if anyone has the skills to remain effective into his 40s, it’s him.
Darvish has at least six pitches and all of them can miss bats.
Command comes and goes from time to time, but he is what you would consider an ace anyway.
He is now the Japanese-born pitcher with the most strikeouts in MLB history.
How cool is that?
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