Whirling Darvish
September 7, 2019 10:42 AM Subscribe
An overwhelming number of pitchers in the database -- 92% -- have thrown between 3 and 6 pitch types in their careers. Only 99 pitchers, or about 4%, have been tracked as throwing seven or more pitch types. Just 11 have thrown eight or more. And then there's Yu Darvish. Not a typo: Yu Darvish throws 10 pitches
Darvish, a star in Japan, was first signed by the Texas Rangers; now he plays for the Chicago Cubs
He recently added another pitch to his arsenal
Full stats for Yu Darvish
Darvish, a star in Japan, was first signed by the Texas Rangers; now he plays for the Chicago Cubs
He recently added another pitch to his arsenal
Full stats for Yu Darvish
and we're not talking about the fact that he can throw his slider and curveball left-handed
Wah?!
posted by Nelson at 12:39 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Wah?!
posted by Nelson at 12:39 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
I don’t even like baseball much but this is really cool, and I live in Cubs territory now so I will check him out!
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:35 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:35 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Darvish is a unique athlete. He is bi-ethnic; his father is from Iran, a physician, and his mother is Japanese. His dad was very involved in his early career in Japan and is said to have intervened when Darvish was in high school, I believe during the early-spring national high school tournament known as the Koshien, to keep Yu’s pitch count down.
The expected use of winning high school pitchers in Koshien is that a winning pitcher moves his team up and on to the next game, the next day, and will start on no rest, until the team fails out of the tournament. It’s very dramatic, emphasizes the Japanese baseball value of gritty perseverance sometimes reflected in the word ganburo, and it’s very, very hard on young pitchers’ arms.
Darvish was somewhat held at arm’s length during his career in Japan in terms of fan and press admiration, maybe somewhat like A-Rod here, regarded as effective but careerist. He came over the same year that Iwakuma did and I think had his career game that year with the Rangers, a near-perfect outing in Texas. Anyway, I think he is an interesting product of the Japanese ball system and he seems to reflect aspects of the stories of some other NPB players that were of mixed or non-Japanese ethnicity such as Sadaharu Oh and Victor Starffin.
posted by mwhybark at 4:17 PM on September 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
The expected use of winning high school pitchers in Koshien is that a winning pitcher moves his team up and on to the next game, the next day, and will start on no rest, until the team fails out of the tournament. It’s very dramatic, emphasizes the Japanese baseball value of gritty perseverance sometimes reflected in the word ganburo, and it’s very, very hard on young pitchers’ arms.
Darvish was somewhat held at arm’s length during his career in Japan in terms of fan and press admiration, maybe somewhat like A-Rod here, regarded as effective but careerist. He came over the same year that Iwakuma did and I think had his career game that year with the Rangers, a near-perfect outing in Texas. Anyway, I think he is an interesting product of the Japanese ball system and he seems to reflect aspects of the stories of some other NPB players that were of mixed or non-Japanese ethnicity such as Sadaharu Oh and Victor Starffin.
posted by mwhybark at 4:17 PM on September 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
Japanese baseball, especially high school, and especially Koshien has a nasty habit of grinding young pitchers to dust, especially at such a young age where their bodies aren’t ready for that yet. There’s probably a solid link between the “we did it that way when I was a kid” style of coaching, and Japanese baseball (especially high school) and it’s connection to far right wing politics, but I imagine that’s a different FPP.
On the other hand, the gif of the 99mph (!) fastball hitting the batter, the catcher, and the umpire all in one go (in the MLB.com link) is a thing of beauty.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:20 PM on September 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
On the other hand, the gif of the 99mph (!) fastball hitting the batter, the catcher, and the umpire all in one go (in the MLB.com link) is a thing of beauty.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:20 PM on September 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
mwhybark, I honestly didn’t know Sadaharu Oh was of Chinese descent. That’s honestly kind of shocking, since when Tuffy Rhodes was first chasing his home run record, suddenly everyone stopped pitching to him. He was one or two home runs away, and then the last two or three weeks of the season, he was walked at every at bat. The rumor at the time was that, either at his wishes, or out of respect to Oh, they didn’t want a foreign player to break the record.
That’s kind of odd, then finding out that Oh is Chinese. Weird world.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:34 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
That’s kind of odd, then finding out that Oh is Chinese. Weird world.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:34 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
It’s actually part of his Wikipedia page. Weird.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:39 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Ghidorah at 11:39 PM on September 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ghidorah, looking closely at Oh when I was first getting interested in NPB after the earthquake was one of the routes in to seeing how NPB does things its’ own way and how players of mixed or non-Japanese ethnicity can have what I would term limnal status - it can help them, in that they may be depicted and perceived as mighty giants, and it can hurt them, in that they may be perceived as not participating in Japanese cultural norms.
I find this aspect of looking at NPB truly fascinating but my observations are based on a very narrow bandwidth view of Japanese ball and I do not feel like I have much of value to offer on the subject except to note that this is a thing I think I see.
posted by mwhybark at 12:33 AM on September 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
I find this aspect of looking at NPB truly fascinating but my observations are based on a very narrow bandwidth view of Japanese ball and I do not feel like I have much of value to offer on the subject except to note that this is a thing I think I see.
posted by mwhybark at 12:33 AM on September 8, 2019 [2 favorites]
I find this aspect of looking at NPB truly fascinating but my observations are based on a very narrow bandwidth view of Japanese ball and I do not feel like I have much of value to offer on the subject except to note that this is a thing I think I see.
I'd really like to find a good history of the NPB that's similar to the kind of books I used to read about MLB history. Not the romanticized boys of summer odes nor the day to day detailed looks of single pennant drives or whatever, filled with those boys will be boys stories, but a good solid overview of the league, the players and the statistical history of it all with short articles on the some of the most notable events and people.
I grew up reading that kind of thing about 19th century baseball and became hooked on the sport as a historical subject, something I enjoy reading about more than even watching. Heck, the only "video game" I regularly play is a online baseball history sim that plays out seasons by normalizing statistical data across eras, even including some NPB and Negro league players by estimates of what their equivalency would be to the MLB.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:30 AM on September 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'd really like to find a good history of the NPB that's similar to the kind of books I used to read about MLB history. Not the romanticized boys of summer odes nor the day to day detailed looks of single pennant drives or whatever, filled with those boys will be boys stories, but a good solid overview of the league, the players and the statistical history of it all with short articles on the some of the most notable events and people.
I grew up reading that kind of thing about 19th century baseball and became hooked on the sport as a historical subject, something I enjoy reading about more than even watching. Heck, the only "video game" I regularly play is a online baseball history sim that plays out seasons by normalizing statistical data across eras, even including some NPB and Negro league players by estimates of what their equivalency would be to the MLB.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:30 AM on September 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
mwhybark, a small spelling edit: "ganburo" -> ganbaru 頑張る
posted by gen at 6:46 AM on September 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by gen at 6:46 AM on September 8, 2019 [3 favorites]
the only "video game" I regularly play is a online baseball history sim
What sim is this?
posted by Think_Long at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
What sim is this?
posted by Think_Long at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's Diamond Mind Online via Imagine Sports. It was designed by Tom Tippett who was an analyst for the Red Sox and the original incarnation was as Bill James Classic Baseball which was played by mail at the start (and it was fun for being the only thing like it at the time, but pricey! I had to split teams with friends to be able to afford it regularly.)
It also was connected to the Pursue the Pennant board game and later computer sim. It's gone through other owners like ESPN for a while and now Imagine Sports since those days, but is more or less the same concept, just upgraded over time. There's no real "video" involved, just box scores and text play by play with some images of players, but since I mostly just play to manage teams in leagues that replay seasons it's a nice way to spend a little spare time each day checking box scores and trying to get the most from the teams I draft. Costs 10 bucks per season in the accelerated format which takes about 3 weeks to finish a season at nine games a day with Sundays off.
They have both a "classic version" which is based off the players peak career value, that's the version that has NPB players, Negro Leaguers, and 19th century guys in addition to all the major players of MLB from the rest of its history and a Single Season format which has every player in MLB from 1926 on and uses their stats from each individual season to run simulations so you can replay specific years or combine seasons in a variety of fashions.
Right now, for example, I have a team in a 12 team league that's replaying the 1936 season and another team in a 24 team league replaying 1989 as well as being in a franchise league that is based on five year stretches of real team rosters where I'm playing the Cleveland team with players from their 1966-1970 seasons against other franchises of the same era. There's are standard leagues with set rules that always stay the same and all sorts of custom leagues with different rules over who can be taken. All of which is probably more than anyone needed to know, but, hey, may as well be thorough.
posted by gusottertrout at 7:41 AM on September 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
It also was connected to the Pursue the Pennant board game and later computer sim. It's gone through other owners like ESPN for a while and now Imagine Sports since those days, but is more or less the same concept, just upgraded over time. There's no real "video" involved, just box scores and text play by play with some images of players, but since I mostly just play to manage teams in leagues that replay seasons it's a nice way to spend a little spare time each day checking box scores and trying to get the most from the teams I draft. Costs 10 bucks per season in the accelerated format which takes about 3 weeks to finish a season at nine games a day with Sundays off.
They have both a "classic version" which is based off the players peak career value, that's the version that has NPB players, Negro Leaguers, and 19th century guys in addition to all the major players of MLB from the rest of its history and a Single Season format which has every player in MLB from 1926 on and uses their stats from each individual season to run simulations so you can replay specific years or combine seasons in a variety of fashions.
Right now, for example, I have a team in a 12 team league that's replaying the 1936 season and another team in a 24 team league replaying 1989 as well as being in a franchise league that is based on five year stretches of real team rosters where I'm playing the Cleveland team with players from their 1966-1970 seasons against other franchises of the same era. There's are standard leagues with set rules that always stay the same and all sorts of custom leagues with different rules over who can be taken. All of which is probably more than anyone needed to know, but, hey, may as well be thorough.
posted by gusottertrout at 7:41 AM on September 8, 2019 [4 favorites]
Thanks, Gen!
Gus, I have a book like that about Cuban ball, it’s pretty interesting but not written as a narrative, really - it’s more like a reference work, with capsule career bios of players and so forth. Still very useful to get a historical grounding.
I’m not sure where I picked up my sense of Japanese ball history - I have the vague outlines down, I think but I guess that came via intensive blogsurfing. I don’t recall where exactly I learned about Starffin, for example.
posted by mwhybark at 8:41 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Gus, I have a book like that about Cuban ball, it’s pretty interesting but not written as a narrative, really - it’s more like a reference work, with capsule career bios of players and so forth. Still very useful to get a historical grounding.
I’m not sure where I picked up my sense of Japanese ball history - I have the vague outlines down, I think but I guess that came via intensive blogsurfing. I don’t recall where exactly I learned about Starffin, for example.
posted by mwhybark at 8:41 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Gus, I have a book like that about Cuban ball, it’s pretty interesting but not written as a narrative, really - it’s more like a reference work, with capsule career bios of players and so forth. Still very useful to get a historical grounding.
That sounds like pretty much exactly what I'd be looking for and Cuban baseball would be a nifty topic as well. What's the title so I can see if I can dig up a copy?
posted by gusottertrout at 9:12 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
That sounds like pretty much exactly what I'd be looking for and Cuban baseball would be a nifty topic as well. What's the title so I can see if I can dig up a copy?
posted by gusottertrout at 9:12 AM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Sure!
Who's Who in Cuban Baseball 1878-1961
Something like this for Japanese ball in English would be so nice to have!
posted by mwhybark at 5:40 PM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
Who's Who in Cuban Baseball 1878-1961
Something like this for Japanese ball in English would be so nice to have!
posted by mwhybark at 5:40 PM on September 8, 2019 [1 favorite]
and a Single Season format which has every player in MLB from 1926 on
Oh great, the Pirates won the Series in 1925!
posted by Chrysostom at 6:27 PM on September 8, 2019
Oh great, the Pirates won the Series in 1925!
posted by Chrysostom at 6:27 PM on September 8, 2019
Who's Who in Cuban Baseball 1878-1961
Something like this for Japanese ball in English would be so nice to have!
Want to try putting it together? :) It could be a lot of fun. I don't know who the history of Japanese baseball experts writing in English are, if there are any; Robert Whiting and his ilk seem to have focused only on foreign, mostly Western players. When I want to know something about NPB now in English I look up Jason Coskrey or (for the recent-ish past) Deanna Rubin.
posted by huimangm at 7:13 PM on September 8, 2019
Something like this for Japanese ball in English would be so nice to have!
Want to try putting it together? :) It could be a lot of fun. I don't know who the history of Japanese baseball experts writing in English are, if there are any; Robert Whiting and his ilk seem to have focused only on foreign, mostly Western players. When I want to know something about NPB now in English I look up Jason Coskrey or (for the recent-ish past) Deanna Rubin.
posted by huimangm at 7:13 PM on September 8, 2019
Me? Oh God no, this is a job for someone who both speaks Japanese and has lived or currently lives in Japan, preferably someone fully bicultural between Japan and the hypothetical overseas market.
posted by mwhybark at 10:51 PM on September 8, 2019
posted by mwhybark at 10:51 PM on September 8, 2019
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posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:59 AM on September 7, 2019 [10 favorites]