After signing with the Texas Rangers and spending six years (five seasons with the organization), Yu Darvish donned a new jersey this week when he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers on their road trip.
The right-hander threw a bullpen session Wednesday at SunTrust Park, which drew a crowd of onlookers from teammates to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt. Darvish impressed in his first showing and is set to make his Dodgers debut Friday night.
An ace during his time with the Rangers, Darvish is second to Clayton Kershaw in the Dodgers rotation — once the three-time Cy Young Award winner returns from a lower back strain.
That is a non-issue for Darvish, who said he’s hopeful to learn from Kershaw, via SportsNet LA:
“He’s the No. 1 pitcher in all of baseball right now. Of course I’m looking forward to playing on the same team. I would like to learn a lot of things from him.”
During 2017 All-Star Game festivities in Miami, Darvish and Kershaw crossed paths, and it prompted the Dodgers’ ace to tell Darvish he looked forward to seeing him in three weeks. Now that it’s come to fruition, a change to the National League means Darvish will need to bat for himself.
It marks the first time in his career consistently needing to do so, which is a source of some concern for the soon-to-be-31-year-old:
“I’ve never been on a National League team. Even in Japan, I played for a team that had a DH. That’s going to be the first challenge for me. I love to hit, but I was in the American League and you could just go out there and have fun. You have to hit every time you go out there, so I’m a little concerned about it. But, it’s just the first challenge.”
Largely by way of Interleague starts throughout his career, Darvish is 3-for-17 with one double, one home run, one RBI and nine strikeouts. His first career home run came last season, a 410-foot shot to center field at Great American Ball Park.
Darvish went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in his Dodgers debut. Any contributions from him at the plate will simply be an added bonus for the team. The Dodgers acquired him to further strengthen a rotation for a forthcoming run at the franchise’s first World Series since 1988.
