Padres' Yu Darvish Doesn't Mince Words About His Struggles as Trade Deadline Looms

The return of Yu Darvish to the Padres' starting rotation following a mysterious injury was anticipated for months.

So far, it's been hard to imagine a bigger letdown.

Darvish has allowed 17 runs in his first 16.2 innings this season. Opponents are batting .309 against him, and he has walked nine batters while striking out 11.

His latest dud: a 3.1-inning, eight-run debacle Thursday in St. Louis that ended with a 9-7 Padres loss.

Darvish's latest outing saw him move into 84th place on the career strikeout list (with 2,018) when he caught Ivan Herrera looking at a breaking ball in the first inning.

But his 11 strikeouts in 16.2 innings this season have been tempered mightily by nine walks and 21 hits allowed, leaving him with an unsightly 1.800 WHIP — nearly two baserunners allowed for every inning pitched this season. Darvish has also hit two batters in four starts.

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At 38 years old, Darvish's average fastball velocityhas sunk to 93.8 mph. That's on par with his velocity a year ago, but a tough place to be in a league where speed continues to trend up.

More than velocity, however, Darvish's repertoire has always been built on unpredictability and command of more pitches than almost any pitcher in baseball. So far his pitch mix is not confusing anyone.

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Darvish's sweeper and curveball — his two most frequent putaway pitches, according to Statcast — have yielded an astronomical .833 and .625 slugging percentage, respectively. Opponents are hitting .462 against his slider, per Statcast.

Fortunately, Darvish has other pitches in his arsenal to lean on. If anyone can turn around a season at age 38, it's probably him. There is a reason the Padres felt comfortable extending Darvish to a six-year, $108 million contract extension in February 2023, when he was 36 years old.

On the other hand, Darvish has had four starts to figure things out since his July 7 debut. It hasn't happened yet.

That puts the Padres in a precarious position. At 55-49, they're trying to fend off the San Francisco Giants (54-50) in the National League West and Wild Card standings, while trying to chase down the first-place Dodgers (61-43) in the division.

The Padres have little choice but to let Darvish work through his command issues one start at a time. After spending most of the season on the injured list, the veteran pitcher is challenging the old adage about "better late that never."

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