SEATTLE — Yu Darvish turned 36 a month ago, and if not for the cake the Padres gave him before a game in Miami, we might have missed it.
He might have missed it.
Someone had to fetch Darvish and bring him back into the visitors' clubhouse at loanDepot park to celebrate. He was off somewhere getting better.
Time has not stopped for Darvish. He is merely outworking it.
"He just works harder than everybody else," catcher Austin Nola said. "Constantly studying, constantly getting better, constantly learning about his arsenal and practice and all that."
There are eight pitchers in the major leagues who are older than Darvish. Only one (Adam Wainwright) has thrown more innings than Darvish (168 2/3). Only one (Justin Verlander) has enough innings to qaulify for the ERA title and has a lower ERA and lower WHIP than Darvish (3.31, 0.98). None of those pitchers is having his best season.
"I don't know that he's not pitching at as high a level as he's ever pitched in his career," Padres manager Bob Melvin said recently.
It is at least a conversation that can be had. Not counting the Covid-shortened 2020 season, Darvish has had a lower ERA just twice, a lower WHIP once and is on pace to throw more innings than all but one season in his career, which began in 2012.
As the rest of the Padres' rotation slides into the kind of inconsistency that has plagued the offense most of this season, Darvish has for the past few months maintained at a high level.
He enters Tuesday night's start against the Mariners having gone at least six innings in 19 straight starts, the second-longest active streak in the major leagues and six more than he had ever strung together in any single season. His 2.92 ERA in that span is his lowest over such a long stretch since 2014.
Darvish's success really has spanned almost the entirety of his 26 starts, save pretty much only for the worst start of his career. After holding the Diamondbacks hitless for six innings on opening day, Darvish surrendered nine runs while recording just five outs on a chilly night in San Francisco in his second start. Even with that game, during which he surrendered eight hits and walked two, he has a 3.31 ERA and 0.98 WHIP. His only other start failing to go six innings was May 13 in Atlanta, when he fell one out short. Houston's Framber Valdez is the only other major league pitcher to have gone at least six innings as often.
This is not out of nowhere. Darvish did not just emerge from a cocoon or find a fountain that rejuvenated his arm.
Since entering the league in 2012, he ranks seventh in strikeouts (1,759), 18th in ERA (3.53), 23rd in innings pitched (1,462) and is tied for 10th in WHIP 1.13.
Darvish surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts on Sept. 2, including the 1,250 he had pitching in Japan from 2005-11. Darvish joined Hideo Nomo as the only Japanese pitchers to have at least 1,000 strikeouts in both leagues and total more than 3,000 in all. There have been just 19 men in MLB history to have recorded 3,000 or more strikeouts.
"He's one of the best pitchers to ever pitch in this game," Manny Machado said.
What the five-time All-Star is doing in 2022, however, is another level.
He has gone at least seven innings while allowing zero or one run eight times this season, tying his career high set in 2013 and '17. He has allowed two hits over seven innings twice in his past 15 starts. He went at least seven innings while allowing two or fewer hits five times in his first 223 major league starts.
His 13 starts having gone at least seven innings this season are third most in the majors and second in his career behind his 16 such starts in 2013. His 21 quality starts are tied for second in MLB and tied for his career high (2013).
Not that anyone would ever think so, but this is not an accident.
"Staying consistent as the season goes along, with the innings that he's pitched and as long as we have him out there," Melvin said, "it has a lot to do with hard work and preparation."
To talk about how Darvish prepares sometimes feels like denigrating how other pitchers prepare. But the reality might just be that he prepares more.
"He gets a little more in depth with everything, as far as what counts guys are sitting on, what pitches and what parts of the zone to go to in what counts," Joe Musgrove, who is known for his meticulous work, said recently. "I don't look that deep into it. If I do, it becomes a little bit too much for me. But he likes it. He can handle it. Obviously, with all the pitches that he has, he has every option in the book available. So, for him, it's just finding out which one to use at what time."
Darvish uses 11 pitches at least occasionally, six them at least five percent of the time. He uses three pitches at least 13 percent of the time in virtually every start, though that does not account for his two sliders, as the web sites that chart his pitches such as Statcast and FanGraphs, only count his slider as one pitch even though he throws it with different breaks and at various speeds and don't differentiate between his two-seam and four-seam fastball. Darvish also generally throws a curveball five to 10 times a game, and that might be travelling 64, 74 or 78 mph.
Nola has caught every start for Darvish this season, same as Victor Caratini did for him last season, because it takes a certain level of acumen to keep up with Darvish.
"I watch the video all day, every day," Darvish said. "That's why every pitch, I have a reason to throw it."
He is watching video more than ever this season.
"Before, like when I was young, I was more a feeling guy," he said. "I studied, but I looked at the scouting report from the team. But especially this year, I learned I need to look at a video myself."
He wants to know why the scouting report says a slider is better than a curve, for instance.
"When you look at the video," he said. "You know why."
His struggles the second half of last season (2.44 ERA in his first 16 starts, 6.65 ERA in his final 14 starts) were largely due to back issues. He is healthy this year. But he is also more comfortable.
"When I was with the Cubs, I studied a lot because I knew how to use the (video) database there," he said. "But last year, first year here, I was struggling to use the database. But I also (learned) from Peter Summerville (a Padres assistant who is primarily responsible for putting together scouting reports). Because he studies a lot. When I started talking with him, I feel like if I had his brain, I will be better, and I can go deeper in the game. That's why I started studying more."
Darvish certainly possesses an innate talent. With all those pitches mentioned above, it was left out that he also throws a 98 mph fastball. If studying and being smart was all it took, more people would be major leaguers and more major leaguers would be All-Stars and more All-Stars would be Hall of Famers.
That said, his dedication to understanding himself and his opponent is what sets Darvish apart and keeps time at bay.
It has become redundant.
With absolutely no sense of arrogance or impatience, Darvish replies to at least one question following almost every start with a matter-of-fact variation of the same answer.
"It comes down to what I tell you," he said following his most recent start, in which he was clearly not at his sharpest but allowed the Diamondbacks just three runs in six innings. "It's about studying hitters and understanding what the hitters' weaknesses are and trying to take advantage of that."
Following the start before that: "I know I always tell this to you guys, but it's just the way of how I prepare for the game, studying hitters and all that and bringing that into the game and executing."
And after the start before that: "You study the hitters, so you understand in your mind what they're trying to do. So given that you try to be efficient, and I guess it has worked."
