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Yu Darvish 2024 Player Outlook: Skills In Decline And Coming Off Offseason Surgery
10 months agoSan Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish is heading into his age-38 season and was already showing signs of decline before being shut down at the end of August last year due to elbow inflammation. The five-time All-Star eventually needed offseason surgery to remove a bone spur from his right elbow. The good news is that Darvish doesn't have any limitations in spring training, but how much faith can fantasy managers put in an aging pitcher with a history of elbow concerns? In his 24 starts (136 1/3 innings) in 2023, Darvish went 8-10 with a 4.56 ERA (4.03 FIP) and 1.29 WHIP with 43 walks and 141 strikeouts. Darvish has the most strikeouts in MLB history among Japanese-born pitchers and has a 28.9% career strikeout rate, but that number has dropped to 25.1% over the last two years. His skills are in clear decline and he's a clear injury risk as an option to round out your fantasy rotation late in drafts. ATC is projecting Darvish to go 9-8 with a 4.09 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP and 146 K's in 144 innings in his fourth year in SD. RotoBaller has him ranked just inside the top 50 starting pitchers.
