Via NPB Tracker, Japanese starter Yu Darvish recently hinted at wanting to one day play in the States, saying “well, I’m planning on climbing the ladder, step by step,” when asked about his interest in MLB. This wouldn’t be that big of deal normally, since he’s not eligible for free agency until after the 2014 season and would need his team to making him available via the posting process to come across the Pacific earlier, but the Yankees are sending a scout to watch Darvish’s start this weekend, and it’s not the first time they’ve scouted him either (Gene Michael went to see him in 2008).
The 23-year-old Darvish has a 2.20 ERA (~3.04 FIP) and a 3.01 K/BB ratio in on 111 career starts for the Nippon Ham Fighters, and his past three seasons were better than any one of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s. He threw close to 750 innings before his 22nd birthday, so they haven’t exactly taken it easy on him. NPB Tracker’s Patrick Newman told us why Darvish will be successful in the big leagues in a piece for FanGraphs. I’m sure this won’t be the last time we hear about this.
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