Yu Darvish

Yu Darvish (Japanese: ダルビッシュ 有, Hepburn: Darubisshu Yū, born 16 August 1986) is a Japanese starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team.

He was considered by many to be the best pitcher in Japanese 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. On 6 April 2014, Darvish reached the 500 strikeout mark in fewer innings pitched than any starting pitcher in MLB history.

Early life

Darvish was born Sefat Farid Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ・セファット・ファリード・有) in Habikino, Osaka, to an Iranian father, Farsad Darvishsefat, and a Japanese mother, Ikuyo. Darvish knows some words in Persian but does not speak it. His parents met at Eckerd College, a liberal arts school in St. Petersburg, Florida, where his father played for the college soccer team. His grandfather owned a travel agency in Iran, and decided to send his son Farsad to the United States in 1977 to attend high school in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he also raced competitively in motocross.