SURPRISE, Ariz. _ As of 12:34 p.m. Central time Tuesday, Yu Darvish had 1,734,130 followers on Twitter, a number that had climbed by a relatively small number from the time he made his third spring start Monday night.
The Texas Rangers' right-handed ace keeps his fans in mind, too, frequently tweeting updates or sending out photos via the Instagram account linked to his (at)faridyu Twitter account.
He's been slacking off on Facebook, though, with only 203,973 people liking his official page and with only a handful of updates since spring training started.
But he took to Twitter on Monday night for a 140-character assessment of his performance after allowing one run in 31/3 innings.
Loosely translated by Google, Darvish said that his slider and curveball are ready for regular-season action but his straight pitches need to be fine-tuned.
That also was the translation by Rangers coaches and catcher Brett Hayes. Darvish isn't quite ready for the regular season, but all he needs to hone in on his fastball command before a potential Opening Day start April 3.
"I thought he was good," pitching coach Doug Brocail said. "The baseball command wasn't as good as I like. I know it wasn't to his liking. When he was warming up, it was lights out, but he got out there and was kind of raising out of his fastball and cutting it short. The slider was phenomenal.
"We'll get there. I think he's trying to overdo it with the fastball right now and blow of past guys instead of executing and spotting it. Just throw the damn thing. We talked about that this morning. He's coming out of his delivery a little bit. Every time he does that, he struggles with fastball command."
Darvish needed 28 pitches in the first inning, when he allowed the lone run the San Francisco Giants mustered against him. Denard Span, who walked on four pitches to start the game, eventually scored.
The slider was working, and it was responsible for Darvish striking out the side in the first. He settled down over the next seven outs, needing only 35 pitches to get them.
Darvish allowed our hits and finished with 63 pitches/39 strikes, six strikeouts and two walks.
"The first inning I threw a lot of pitches, but that can happen in actual game situations," Darvish said. "My mentality was to throw whatever was working for me and throw it for strikes and just battle threw it."
Hayes, in camp on a minor league deal, said that Darvish's four-seam fastballs were cutting in the first inning has he was yanking them. He made the adjustment later in the game by finishing off the fastballs better, and he maintained his velocity, from 93-97 mph, throughout his start.
Hayes said that Darvish threw six different pitches in total _ four-seamer, two-seamer, cutter, changeup, slider and curveball _ and the slider, which Darvish considers to be his best pitch, had next-level movement on it.
"He did a nice job with the slider," Hayes said. "It seems like his slider almost has a second gear. It's hard to see. It's hard to hit."
Darvish is scheduled to start again this weekend, either Saturday on normal rest or Sunday on five days' rest, before flying to Texas to await the birth of a son. Brocail said that Darvish will throw a side session at TMI Sports Medicine in Arlington while he's away from the team for up to three days, and then slide back into the rotation upon his return.
His focus will be on fastball command.
"I don't think he's worried about it," Hayes said.
As Darvish tweeted Monday night, his slider and curveball are good to go for the regular season. However, his Facebook game could use a little work.
"My four-seam fastball, when I yank it, it cuts, but I don't think it cuts that much," Darvish said. "I'm just trying to get out there and make the adjustment to whatever I'm feeling that day and just keep doing that."
