MESA, Ariz. – Cubs starter Yu Darvish looked sharp, confident and at ease during two “innings” of live batting practice against teammates Monday, putting him on course for his first Cactus League start Saturday against the Brewers.
But if you want to see the real source of Darvish’s superpowers – or at least a glimpse into an underrated strength – follow him on Twitter.
The veteran right-hander is the undisputed major-league leading social media troll this winter and spring, notably trolling the cheating Astros in recent weeks. And since at least last season his performance on the mound has roughly tracked with the performance of his thumbs on the keyboard.
MLB’s top troll?
“Only social media,” he said. “Not in the clubhouse.”
Teammates aren’t so sure about that – especially since he began getting comfortable with his new team about this time last year, entering his second season with the Cubs.
“I don’t have Twitter,” closer Craig Kimbrel said. “But I have him in the clubhouse. He’s a funny guy. I get to enjoy that every day.”
That’s the thing. What fans and media see on social media often is the same personality teammates and media see in the clubhouse and during interviews.
On Monday, Darvish accidentally knocked a recorder out of a reporter’s hand, quickly apologized and reached to pick it up.
Reporter: “It’s OK.”
Darvish: “How much is it?”
Reporter: “A million dollars.”
Darvish: “I’ll go buy it.”
And then he went right back to answering questions about how healthy he feels this spring, how confident he is with the command that last season led to just seven walks in 81 2/3 innings after the All-Star break, and how he hasn’t had any recurrences of the blister problems that came up last spring.
Because – as he joked last year – he’s still peeing on his hands?
“Yeah, every day,” he deadpanned.
Don’t underestimate the power of the personality coming out. Darvish and those close to him attribute some of his success the second half of 2019 with a less inhibited version the 34-year-old pitcher.
“I don’t know why I start throwing a lot of strikes now, but now I feel like I have a lot of confidence, like [Monday],” said Darvish, a four-time All-Star whose spring schedule lines up for Opening Day. “Last year I had good command but I still struggled [throwing the] fastball away to the lefty. But this spring training I can throw it right there.
“It’s amazing.”
Darvish, who might have more sheer ability and mastery of more pitches than any other pitcher in the game, has almost counter-intuitively seemed sensitive to comfort zones and confidence swings – an admitted over-thinker, whose self-awareness is a great strength, if occasional flaw.
But he clearly has entered this spring in the greatest Twitter shape of his career.
And if his increased profile on social media last year was even a small part of a confidence and comfort zone that complemented his work performance, is there any doubt he’s in position to carry that into a full season of production in 2020?
“I can’t tell you right now,” he said, “but, yeah, I have confidence in that.”
Just go to the video – where he has 465,000 YouTube subscribers. Or to Twitter, where he has 2.2 million followers – and got so much attention for trolling the Astros that a T-shirt company sent him “TrasH-Town” Astros cheater shirt.
Gorgeous trashcan!
— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) February 16, 2020
I like it!
Not everybody has the same relationship with the camera or 280-character missives.
Teammate Kris Bryant calls Twitter “the worst thing to ever happen to this world.”
But, Darvish said, “If you know how to use it, it’s great. If you don’t know how to use it, it looks crazy.”
When he opened his Twitter account 10 years ago he only tweeted in Japanese until more recently tweeting in English, too (often with the help of an assistant for translations).
“I feel people like it,” he said. “That’s why I keep doing it.”
#DoYu
