A new phenomenon has hit the Texas Rangers this season. He is tall, dark, and handsome, not to mention Asian. Yu Darvish, the Japanese import from the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, has arrived in Arlington with expectations of continuing the dominance he has shown in Japan.
“I don’t really know much about him other than how badly he dominated over in Japan,” senior Ryan Almy said. “If he can carry over what he did over there then I think another World Series appearance is obtainable.”
Darvish is surrounded with pressure coming from Rangers fans yearning for a World Series title that the team has fallen short the past two seasons. Also, as the gem of Japanese baseball, he has his whole native country expecting im to represent Japan well. And okay, he can’t forget about the $112 million that the Rangers spent to acquire him.
“There is no doubt everyone expects a lot from Darvish this season,” senior Zack Hobgood said. “We paid a bunch of money for him instead of resigning C.J. Wilson for less money, so everyone is just hoping he pans out.”
So far into the season, Darvish has been struggling to adjust to the higher competition in the MLB. His stats are not eye popping for the hype with an earned run average of 3.57 and almost issuing a walk to strikeout ratio of 13:14 until his dominating performance against the Yankees where he shut them out for almost the whole game. To his credit he has won all his decisions so far starting the season 4-1.
“Darvish has been pretty solid, so far for the Rangers,” avid Rangers fan basketball coach Kyle Herrema said. “He’s had some rough innings here and there, but he has the repertoire of pitches and the stuff to succeed here.”
There is some relief for Darvish though. Luckily he has landed on a stacked Rangers team that could boast the best lineup and rotation in the whole league, so the team has some time to be patient with Darvish as he gets adjusted to not only a new league but a whole new culture.
“The Rangers are still one of the best teams in baseball this season,” Almy said. “Darvish can only make them better I guess.”
