With the $51.7 Million dollar posting fee going to Nippon Ham, Yu Darvish's rights are currently owned by the Texas Rangers for the next 30 days.
Here is a brief scouting report on the Potential Ace for the Rangers.
| Pitcher | |
| Name | Yu Darvish |
| Position | RHP |
| Team | Texas Rangers (rights) |
| Height | 6'5" |
| Weight | 215 |
| Bats | Right |
| Throws | Right |
| Scouted | Videos, World Baseball Classic |
| Physical Description | Long and lean with an near ideal pitchers frame. He is lanky and tall but strong. |
| Motion | Much smoother than most Japanese pitchers, his delivery is clean and he lines up well with the plate. His 3/4 delivery is clean and durability shouldn't be an issue. |
| Stuff | His control is good but his command within the zone seems a little spotty. Everything has very good movement. |
| Fastball | His 4 seam fastball can reach the upper 90's on occasion but is more likely to peak at 96. His 2-seam fastball will sit 91-94 mostly and has very good movement. It is a plus pitch. |
| Curveball | He has a hard downer curveball that is a plus pitch and could be an out pitch. He also plays around with a lollipop curveball that is about 65 MPH. I think that will have to go. The consistency isn't completely there but the pitch moves enough to be a very good pitch. |
| Slider | Looks much like his cutter with more aggressive movement. |
| Splitter | He uses a splitter as a changeup and it drops off the table when I've seen it. I haven't seen it enough to know what kind of control he has with it or it's effectiveness. |
| Cut Fastball | His cutter is very good with late sharp movement. Again, everything he throws has good movement. |
| Summary | Yu has had dominating numbers his entire career. While he threw 200+ innings almost every year of his career including when he was 20. He has some innings on his arm but he hasn't been abused that I know of. His numbers improved this year as the general numbers in the league became more pitcher dominated. I think he will have some problems here as he challenges hitters with pitches down the middle of the plate and up in the zone and will have to learn that he can't dominate here like he did in Japan, but he has great movement and will have some room for error due to that. |
| Statistics | http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=darvis001yu- |
| GRADING OUT (FUTURE) | |
| Motion | 50 (50) |
| Fastball | 65 (65) |
| Curveball | 60 (70) |
| Slider | 50 (65) |
| Splitter | 60 (70) |
| Cut Fastball | 50 (60) |
| Command | 50 (60) |
| Projected Role | #2 starter now with Ace potential |
| Suggested Draft Slot | Would be in the mix for the #1 overall pick |
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