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Since the beginning of June Yu Darvish has recorded 110 strikeouts and 11 walks. Since July, Darvish has 78 strikeouts and three walks and after last night’s eight innings of one-run ball, Darvish finished the month of August with 42 strikeouts and only one walk.
An incredible turnaround for Darvish, especially when you consider that through his first eight starts of 2019 he had a higher walk rate than Tyler Chatwood in 2018. You know, when Chatwood set an all-time walk record.
After walking six batters against the Marlins on May 9, Darvish has only walked more than two hitters in a game three times, the last being on June 5, against the Rockies. All those times he didn’t walk more than three.
Yes, Darvish still is giving up a high home run rate, but there’s no longer the feeling that he’s giving the other team cheap runs. Plus, he’s keeping his pitch count low and is going deeper into games.
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Oh and guess what, Darvish just learned a new pitch from Craig Kimbrel too.
So, add a 10th pitch to Darvish’s pitching arsenal. He showed off his brand new weapon against the Mets and it’s nasty.
Darvish has a 2.93 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. He’s been great and keeps coming up big when the Cubs need him the most. Awesome to see after missing most of 2018 with an arm injury and then slowly returning back to form this season.
Keep it up, Yu!
