‘AT MY BEST RIGHT NOW’
Darvish flashes reasons Padres can dream big
PEORIA, Ariz. – There he was standing on the mound, wearing the brown-and-gold uniform in a spring training game for the first time, representing the San Diego Padres’ hopes and dreams.
The Padres loaded up all winter. They grabbed front-line starters and locked up stars, trying to scare their neighbors up the I-5 Freeway.
Well, if the Padres are going to interrupt the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dynasty hopes, no one is more important than Yu Darvish, who showed in his first spring training start why the Padres acquired him from the Chicago Cubs in a salary dump.
Darvish dazzled in his debut last weekend, striking out four batters in two innings against the Kansas City Royals. He threw seven different pitches and permitted just one baserunner on a single. He certainly looked like the guy who dominated the National League Central last year, going 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA and finishing second to Trevor Bauer, then with the Cincinnati Reds, in the Cy Young race.
Now, Darvish and Bauer are back in the same division. The Dodgers dropped $102 million on a three-year deal to bring Bauer to Los Angeles. For Darvish, the Padres traded pitcher Zach Davies and four low-level prospects and picked up the three years and $59 million remaining on his contract.
The Padres believe that Darvish, 34, is just what they need to lead perhaps the most talented pitching staff in the NL.
Darvish did not live up to his contract (six years, $126 million) in the early years with the Cubs, starting only eight games because of an injury in 2018 and then struggling in the first half of 2019.
But he started to pitch like the Cubs envisioned in the second half, posting a 4-4 record, 2.76 ERA, 118 strikeouts and seven
walks in 81 2⁄3innings.
Proving it was no fluke, he looked even better last year in the 60-game eason, striking out 93 batters with 14 walks in 76 innings. He pitched well in his postseason start, too, giving up two runs in 6 2⁄3 innings against the Miami Marlins.
“Just looking back at my whole career, I think I’m at my best right now,” Darvish said.
Who would dare disagree? “It’s as good a combination of power, finesse, multiple pitches as anybody in the game,” general manager A.J. Preller said this spring. “His last season and a half has been as productive as anybody in the game. He’s a force.”
Undoubtedly, the Padres are counting on him to bring them their first World Series title in
their 52-year history.
“I think this is one of the best teams in baseball right now,” Darvish said earlier this spring.
Darvish sees the talent surrounding him on the field. He watches the young talent with pitchers like Dinelson Lamet, Adrian Morejon, Chris Paddack and MacKenzie Gore and gets a kick out of being the one to answer their questions.
“I’m not sure if this is the proper way to put it, but they’re cute, in a sense,” Darvish said. “I’ve been in the league long enough and I probably would be considered a veteran, but being around these young guys, I don’t actually feel like being a veteran or feeling too old.
“I’m not thinking so much about giving them advice. I’m more thinking about trying to give them an environment where they feel comfortable in. I think, someone like myself and maybe Blake Snell, us veterans should try to provide an environment that these young players feel comfortable in.”
The front office and coaching staff have made Darvish comfortable as well.
“They’ve been great,” Darvish said. “They’ve been really, really supportive. I feel like they’ve given me the freedom to get myself ready. I’m really appreciative of that.
“I didn’t feel like I was pitching for a new team. It just kind of felt normal actually wearing the uniform.”
Certainly, it will help to have Victor Caratini, his personal catcher, who was also included in the trade. Caratini has caught him more than any other catcher in his career. In his past 25 starts, all caught by Caratini, Darvish is yielding a 2.40 ERA and a .204 opponent’s batting average with 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
They have been experimenting on a new splitter, too, with the help of adviser Hideo Nomo, the former Dodgers All-Star pitcher.
“That’s the beautiful part of Darvish,” said manager Jayce Tingler. “He can beat you with a lot of different ways. Some of it is planned. Some of it is feel.
“The more you see it, the appreciation, just how he continues to fine-tune his game what he can do with a baseball.”
Next up: What he can do for a franchise and a hungry fan base looking to topple the Dodgers, the reigning World Series champions.
MESA, Ariz. – You see it on the mound. You see it at the plate. You see it in the dugout.
The smile is back, the stress is gone, and Shohei Ohtani is sure starting to look like the same guy who was hyped as the greatest two-way player since Babe Ruth.
Ohtani, making his first spring training start last week in three years, showed flashes of why every team in baseball coveted him, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun, leaving hitters completely fooled with his lethal split-finger, and striking out five batters in his 1 2⁄3 innings of work.
Ohtani, for the first time since signing with the Los Angeles Angels in December 2017, feels free and relaxed, no longer carrying the burden of limitations and restriction that has stifled his pitching career in America.
“Shohei likes the idea of being able to take charge of his own career,” Angels manager Joe Maddon said. “Why wouldn’t you? I don’t want to fabricate rules that may not be the best for him.”
Sure, the Angels likely still will keep him out of the starting lineup the day before he pitches, making sure he can make his scheduled start, but if he feels good the day after he pitches, why not?
Guess what?
The dude loves it.
“I think he’s having a lot of fun,” Maddon says. “I don’t see the same stress I saw on his face as I did last year. Listen, at the core of what I try to do here is permit the players to have freedom, be themselves. In return, without even asking, I think you get a greater respect and discipline returned to you.
“I think he enjoys the concept of being free, to being Shohei, and being more in charge of what he’s doing out there. I think he’s really digging it. I believe you’re going to see a greater freedom in his game.
“He’s not going to be concerned
about either getting hurt or disappointing somebody. He’s just going to play, just be part of the group.”
The freedom was revealed in the calmness of his 41-pitch appearance against the Oakland Athletics. He struck out three batters in the first inning with a walk and gave up a double. In the second inning, another two strikeouts, walk and double. He generated five swing-andmisses and wishes he had better success with his slider but was satisfied overall.
When he walked off the mound, he couldn’t help but smile as the crowd gave him a loud, rousing ovation, thrilled to see him back and dreaming once again of all that potential.
“I’m definitely having fun,”
he said. “I had trouble having fun the last couple of years. … The last couple of years, I’ve had some kind of rehab schedule. This year, it’s not like that.”
The Angels aren’t going to be reckless with Ohtani, who didn’t pitch at all in 2019 due to Tommy John surgery, while making only two starts last year with a flexor strain.
They know how vital he is to their success.
The difference now is that he’ll be treated just like anyone else on the team, and if he happens to get hurt, they’ll deal with it like any other injury, with the Angels refusing to create limitations or guidelines.
“We always worry about creating rules to prevent injury,” Maddon says. “I’ve always had
trouble with that. Of course you want to prevent injury. I explained to him that we just need total transparency.
“We want Shohei to be in charge of his own career, let his athleticism take over, and not so much be concerned about getting hurt. He’s done this in the past. He should know himself better than we do.”
Ohtani certainly took his career in his own hands during the winter. He made drastic changes to his diet. He had blood drawn on a routine basis to learn which foods produced the best results and optimal recovery. He collected data to standardize how his body operates. He wore a band to monitor the stress level on his arm that he still uses.
The Angels certainly have noticed the difference and have been encouraged with Ohtani’s delivery being much more consistent than a year ago.
“I think he looked good,” Maddon said, “he looked calm. The delivery was good; I can’t emphasize that enough.”
Ohtani still needs to throw more strikes. He pitched out of the stretch the entire game and went deep into the count too often. If this were a regular-season game, he would have been fortunate to pitch five innings.
Yet the way Ohtani looked on the mound in his debut, and at the plate all spring, he sure looked like the same fella who had every team in baseball drooling about his potential all along.