A collection of Yu Darvish GIFs ahead of his Dodgers debut

Dustin Nosler 08/04/2017 Uncategorized Leave A Comment

(Via)

Yu Darvish makes his Dodger debut this afternoon in New York against the Mets, because of course he does. He could have started in Atlanta, but where’s the fun in that? Probably for the best since Atlanta seems to be about the only team that can hang with the Dodgers these days.

The veteran has been one of baseball’s filthiest pitchers since he came over from Japan six years ago. As a Dodger-focused blog and with a Dodger-focused audience, it’s possible folks haven’t seen much of Darvish. So, I’m bringing you these GIFs to show you what to expect from Mr. Darvish for the next three months.

Before we get there, let’s run down his arsenal. Velocity and pitch value (via FanGraphs) is for 2017:

Fastball
Average Velo: 94.71 MPH
Max Velo: 98.96 MPH
Usage: 35.21%
Pitch Value: -1.0

Sinker
Average Velo: 94.71 MPH
Max Velo: 98.96 MPH
Usage: 17.21%
Pitch Value: N/A

Curveball
Average Velo: 73.68 MPH
Max Velo: 80.49 MPH
Usage: 4.02%
Pitch Value: -0.3

Slider
Average Velo: 82.81 MPH
Max Velo: 87.54 MPH
Usage: 24.93%
Pitch Value: 7.3

Cutter
Average Velo: 89.01 MPH
Max Velo: 98.96 MPH
Usage: 14.89%
Pitch Value: 4.7

Changeup
Average Velo: 88.30 MPH
Max Velo: 91.14 MPH
Usage: 1.78%
Pitch Value: 0.1

Splitter
Average Velo: 87.97 MPH
Max Velo: 91.91 MPH
Usage: 0.59%
Pitch Value: 0.0

Aside from the curveball, everything Darvish throws is hard. Now, onto the real reason you’re here: The GIFs! Thanks to the awesome The Pitcher List and its accompanying Twitter account @ThePitcherList for (most of) the collection.

Fastball

Slider

From another game/camera angle:

And one more that’s just, lol.

Curveball

He even has an eephus pitch!

And then there’s this cool-ass GIF from four years ago:

That release point, though.

Finally, he can hit.

Well, he’s 3-for-14 with a double and that home run, so I guess the jury’s still out on that.

——

Dodgers got a good one here, folks. It’s gonna be a fun three months.

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About Dustin Nosler

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Dustin Nosler began writing about the Dodgers in July 2009 at his blog, Feelin' Kinda Blue. He co-hosted a weekly podcast with Jared Massey called Dugout Blues. He was a contributor/editor at The Hardball Times and True Blue LA. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in digital media. While at CSUS, he worked for the student-run newspaper The State Hornet for three years, culminating with a 1-year term as editor-in-chief. He resides in Stockton, Calif.
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