Will “Yu” Be Ready When Baseball Is Hit By The Whirling Darvish In 2012?

Watch out America, baseball might be hit with its next Japanese rock star since Ichiro Suzuki burst on the scene in 2001.

With a lanky six foot five inch frame and a thin physique that doesn’t even exceed 200 pounds, the half Japanese, half Persian Yu Darvish will have Japanese media and fans following his every move as he appears ready to test the Major League Baseball waters in the 2012 season (according to a Sports Illustrated/MLB Fanhouse report).

For years now, the young pitching sensation has been all the rage of Japanese baseball and the eye candy of many MLB general managers. Not only does Darvish present talents that most managers love, but the swagger and a look of a man ready to live up to the extreme hype following him.

His current stats leave a great deal of imagination to what he can accomplish on the mound. In six complete seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Darvish is 75-32 with 974 strikeouts, 45 complete games, 12 shutouts and a 2.12 ERA. The superstar is also the ace of his staff and a menace to swing against for any hitters with a wide repertoire of pitches at his disposal.

Although the stats are sparkling, they only represent his ability against his Japanese counterparts. Despite that, he has also participated in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Darvish ended up leading the tournament with 20 strikeouts, posted a 2-1 record with a 2.08 ERA in five games, and helped his country win their second straight title. In the game prior to Japan’s championship matchup with Korea, the phenom faced the USA team in the ninth inning and allowed only one hit while striking out two.

Pitching in the land of the rising sun and in limited action in the World Baseball Classic doesn’t give many experts a good feel for what the 24-year-old mixed Japanese superstar can do. Despite the minimal exposure, experts believe that he has what it takes to make it in America.

Former baseball legend and current ESPN analyst Orel Hershiser saw a bit of what the lanky pitcher could do and is in agreement with the overall consensus for his success when he wrote an analytical piece for ESPN titled “Japan’s Darvish Has All The Tools To Succeed”.

“Like most of America, I haven't seen very much of Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, but what I have seen I like,” Hershiser states in the first line of his analysis. “If he needed to make adjustments once he came to the big leagues someday, he looks like he could manage that.”

The biggest obstacle that the young star will have to overcome is the fear Major League general managers have about the mileage on his arm at such a young age. Today, young pitchers are treated like an expensive vase someone buys and leaves it sitting upon a pedestal; meaning that they are handled delicately as valuable commodities with hopes of not damaging them.

Darvish has been worked vigorously, as most Japanese starting pitchers are in the NPB leagues. In six seasons, starting from when he joined the league at the age of 18, he has accumulated over a thousand innings pitched with three of those seasons eclipsing the 200 innings mark.

Such mileage on the young man’s arm will make general managers shudder when trying to sign him. His innings per game over his career is higher than many of the great young stars today.

In his NPB pitching lifetime, Darvish averages nearly 7.5 innings per game. Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez is the same age and pitches only 6.7 per outing. World Series winner Tim Lincecum is 26 and has only 6.6 for each time he steps on the mound. Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo, 24, is lower still at 5.9.

Regardless of the wear-and-tear on his arm, teams will still vie for the pitching sensation after 2011 concludes and the United States will finally get to set their eyes on Japan’s most coveted young rock star of baseball.

So watch out America, 2012 could be the beginning of many “Whirling Darvish” sightings.

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How Big League Baseball Can Learn From The Little Guys

Lies, performance-enhancing drugs and questions about putting asterisks on historical records has become baseball’s reputation thanks to the spawn of the Steroids Era in Major League Baseball in the 1980s.

Jose Canseco was one of the best baseball players during the 1980s and 1990s. Years later, he wrote a book about his steroid use and the widespread use of it throughout baseball clubhouses everywhere.

Barry Bonds is the current owner of the baseball home run record, but came out stating that he never “knowingly” took PEDs during his illustrious career.

Roger Clemens recently got indicted on perjury charges after he was accused of lying about his steroid use. “The Rocket” has won the most CY Young awards ever with seven.

All three of these players are only a tiny shred of the list of players who have used steroids during their baseball career. The temptation of cheating and using PEDs for personal gain has become an epic dilemma that will haunt baseball forever.

Major League baseball needs a change and a new fresh outlook. They need to reclaim the pureness and camaraderie that it inspired before the steroids era tainted the sport.

The answer: the kids.

The 2010 Little League World Series wrapped up on August 29th, 2010 as the international champions, Japan, defeated the United States champions, Hawaii. The team from Tokyo celebrated at the pitcher’s mound after their win by collecting dirt from the mound as souvenirs of their great achievement.

That moment was a reflection of how the game has regained some inspiration and dignity. The sport was appreciated for all the blessings the players received because of it.

An appreciation that has been lost in the big leagues.

All the kids in the tournament happily ran around the outfield making diving catches and miraculous snags of groundballs around the diamond not for the sake of popularity or to increase their own value, but for the sake of helping the team.

There were no players worried about their stats or records they could accomplish. They had one goal in mind through each game they played; they are playing for more than themselves, they were playing for their country.

That understanding was felt by each player of each team.

The best players from all the squads were always the most quiet who led by example and their play, not by their statistics and contract earnings. They didn’t use their baseball ability to become bigger than the sport; they used it to enhance who they represented.

A team essence was felt in each and every game they played. Whether it was the team from Texas, who all sported eye black like young phenom Bryce Harper, or the team from Taiwan, who had a pitcher-by-committee rotation; each team understood that they needed each other to play unselfishly to become champions.

Major League Baseball needs to regain that unselfishness the league once exemplified.

The majors were once a great league that defined what baseball was all about. Baseball is one of the ultimate team sports and past players knew that their output was important for the success not just for the team, but for the legacy of the sport.

Being great was never about records, money nor doping to gain an advantage.

Now, the legacy of baseball has become tainted with selfish players and cheaters looking for a way to hold all the records and make the millions of dollars.

What was once the sport labeled “America’s Pastime” has now become “America’s Worst Crime”. An injustice created by a sport that was born in the United States when the Major League formed in 1901.

The Little League teams have always looked up to the stars in baseball as their heroes and inspiration as they hope to one day be like them.

Maybe it’s time the Major Leaguers emulate the Little Leaguers.

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