![]() You’ll note in the graphic above that lefties hit only. 471 projected average against Darvish’s four-seamer, and he took that pitch deep in their first-inning matchup July 26 of last season. Yelich is 2 for 5 with a homer and two walks in his career against Darvish, and most of those at-bats are recent. Milwaukee added another solid lefty bat in Christian Yelich, who came over from Miami in an offseason trade. The Brewers project to start five lefty hitters, and among current NL players with the most hits off Darvish, Stephen Vogt (seven) and Eric Sogard (five, tied for second) are at the top of the list. 464 against Darvish’s four-seamer with Billy Hamilton (.443) and Scooter Gennett (.427) not far behind. The Reds project to have the most with six, and Darvish might want to refrain from throwing his four-seam fastball against majority of them. The outlier is Mike Trout, whose four homers are tied for the most against Darvish with left-handers Brett Gardner and Brandon Moss.Īccording to Roster Resource, three of the Cubs’ four NL Central foes project to have at least half their non-pitcher spots in the lineup occupied by left-handed hitters. Of the seven players with at least nine career hits off Darvish, six either bat left-handed or are switch hitters. The results? Well, have a look at how lefties fared against Darvish in the second half: Despite left-handers having trouble against his slider, Darvish threw his four-seam fastball at a higher usage rate than any of his other pitches. right-handers that was the sixth lowest in baseball. But when left-handers put bat on ball? Not as good. That’s a solid rate and not far below the 27.6 percent of right-handers Darvish fanned. ![]() Darvish, whose 11.04 strikeouts per nine innings is the highest rate of any pitcher since he made his MLB debut in 2012, finished 19 th punching out 26.9 percent of lefties he faced between his time with Texas and the Los Angeles Dodgers. 285 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) against lefties in 2017, and Lester led all MLB starters striking out 34.1 percent of the left-handers he faced. The projected numbers combined with Darvish’s history against lefties might cause some Cubs fans to tone down the optimism a little.Ĭhicago led the NL with a. The basic numbers support the Cubs’ investment that provides them with a solid top end of Darvish, Jon Lester and Jose Quintana in some undetermined order.īut STATS TVL data – tracking pitch type (T), velocity (V) and location (L) – is anything but basic, and there should be some cause for concern with the majority of Darvish’s 2018 starts set to come against NL Central lineups loaded with left-handed hitting options due to the unbalanced schedule. The Cubs now can rest easy with their rotation set heading into spring training, as Darvish’s signing officially signals the end of Jake Arrieta’s tenure on the North Side. That could wind up being a bargain for the game’s preeminent strikeout pitcher over the last five seasons when considering the usual cost of quality starting pitching. 12 when the Chicago Cubs and top free agent target Yu Darvish closed on a potentially $150 million deal. The MLB’s cold-stove offseason upgraded to at least lukewarm Feb.
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