Yu Darvish

Farid Yu Darvishsefat (ダルビッシュ・セファット・ファリード・有), more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ 有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago Cubs and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

His paternal grandfather owned a travel agency in Iran and sent Farsad to the United States in 1977 to attend Berkshire School in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he played soccer and raced competitively in motocross.

Darvish began playing baseball in second grade and led his team to the quarterfinals of the national tournament as well as a third-place finish in the international tournament as a member of the Habikino Boys.

He was scouted by over 50 high schools while in junior high.

He opted to attend Tohoku High School in Northern Sendai, a baseball powerhouse that produced players such as former Seattle Mariners and Yokohama BayStars closer Kazuhiro Sasaki and former BayStars and Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Takashi Saito.

Darvish became Tohoku High's ace pitcher by the fall of his first year (the equivalent of tenth grade in the United States) and led his team to four straight appearances in national tournaments held at Koshien Stadium in his junior and senior years, twice in the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament held in the spring and twice in the National High School Baseball Championship in the summer.

Darvish, then 20 years old, became the first pitcher to start a Japan Series game since 1987 while under the age of 21, and the fifth pitcher in NPB history to win a Japan Series game at that age with his win in game 5 of the series.

He also won the Asia Series Most Valuable Player award.

Darvish was named the Fighters' starter for their season opener, becoming the fourth pitcher in franchise history (including the Fighters' years as the Senators and Flyers) to start a season opener within three years of graduating high school (the other three pitchers all started season openers as rookies).

He struck out 14 over nine innings in a no-decision in his second start against the Lions on 30 March (the game ended a 2–2 tie in extra innings) and 14 again in a complete game win in his next start against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks on 7 April, becoming the second pitcher in Japanese professional baseball history to strike out 14 or more batters in two consecutive starts.

Darvish went on to post a 15–5 record with a 1.82 ERA (falling just 0.003 points short of the league lead, which went to Chiba Lotte Marines left-hander Yoshihisa Naruse) for the year, limiting hitters to a .174 batting average against and leading the league with 210 strikeouts.

He led the Fighters to their second consecutive league title, winning both of his starts in the second round of the Climax Series (playoffs) against the Marines.

Darvish took the mound in game 1 of the Japan Series that followed on 27 October against the Dragons for the second straight year, pitching a 13-strikeout, complete game win in an intense pitchers' duel with then-Dragons ace Kenshin Kawakami and becoming the third pitcher in Japan Series history to strike out 13 or more batters in a single game.

With the Fighters down 3–1 and facing elimination, Darvish started game 5 on 1 November and held the Dragons to one run over seven innings while striking out 11.

Darvish led his team to the finals of the 85th National High School Baseball Championship in the summer of 2003, but gave up four runs to Joso Gakuin High School, the Ibaraki champions, in a complete game loss.

Darvish attracted national attention when he pitched a no-hitter against Kumamoto Technical High School in the first round of the 76th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament as a senior on 26 March 2004.

The team lost in the quarter-finals despite stellar outings by Darvish and sidearmer Kenji Makabe (currently with Honda Motor Company's industrial league team).

He pitched 12 games and put up a 7–3 record with 87 strikeouts in 92 innings pitched and a 1.47 ERA in his four national tournament appearances, and posted a 1.10 ERA for his high school career, striking out 375 in 332 1⁄3 innings (67 appearances).

Darvish was scouted by Major League teams, such as the Anaheim Angels and Atlanta Braves, even while in junior high.

As he entered his senior year of high school, the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, and New York Mets had expressed interest in signing him, but Darvish's intent remained to play for a Japanese professional team instead.

Darvish was considered one of the best high school pitchers in the 2004 NPB amateur draft along with Yokohama Senior High School right-hander Hideaki Wakui (later picked by the Seibu Lions) and Akita Municipal Akita Commercial High School right-hander Tsuyoshi Sato (Hiroshima Toyo Carp).

While the Fighters, Carp, Chunichi Dragons, Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, and Orix BlueWave all considered selecting Darvish with their first-round pick in the final months, the Fighters were one of the few teams that chose not to forgo the first round in exchange for signing a college or industrial league player prior to the draft.

This enabled them to land Darvish with their first-round pick in 17 November draft, signing him to a base salary of ¥15 million, a signing bonus of ¥100 million, and additional performance-based incentives (the equivalent of what a first-round college or industrial league player would normally receive) on 17 December.

Darvish received further publicity when he was caught smoking in a pachinko parlor on an off-day during his first Spring training in, despite not being old enough to legally smoke nor to gamble at the time.

The incident prompted his high school to suspend him, and the Fighters to place him under probation for an indefinite period and order him to participate in community service.

Despite his suspension, Darvish made his professional debut later that season, taking the mound in an interleague game against the Carp on 15 June.

Darvish was chosen to take the hill for the first game of each of the Pacific League playoffs, Japan Series, and the 2006 Asia Series (played between the champions of Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea at the end of the season).

In international play, Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japan national baseball team.

He was considered by many to be the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball prior to his arrival in Major League Baseball in 2012.

In his first MLB season, Darvish finished third in the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year balloting.

The next season, he finished second in the AL Cy Young Award vote as he led the Major Leagues in strikeouts with 277 and finished fourth in the AL in earned run average (ERA) at 2.83.

Though he gave up back-to-back solo home runs in the ninth, he pitched 8+ innings on those two runs alone and earned the win, becoming the 12th pitcher in NPB history to earn a win in one's professional debut as a rookie straight out of high school.

On 6 April 2014, Darvish reached the 500-strikeout mark in fewer innings pitched than any starting pitcher in MLB history.

Darvish was born Farid Yu Darvishsefat (ダルビッシュ・セファット・ファリード・有) in Habikino, Osaka, to a Japanese mother, Ikuyo, and Iranian father, Farsad Darvishsefat.

His father played for the Florida State University soccer team.

He recorded his first complete game win on 6 August against the Lions and his first complete game shutout on 18 September, holding the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles to just two hits and becoming the 14th pitcher in NPB history to throw a complete-game shutout as a rookie out of high school.

He finished the season with a 5–5 record in 14 starts, throwing 94 1⁄3 innings with an ERA of 3.53.

Darvish had a breakout year in, compiling a 12–5 record with 115 strikeouts and a 2.89 ERA.

In particular, he went 10–0 after 30 May, playing a leading role in the Fighters' first Pacific League title since (his win streak lasted until 14 April of the following season, when it reached 12–0) and contributing to their first championship since in the Japan Series over the Dragons.