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Padres' Yu Darvish Reveals He Made 'Drastic' and Unthinkable Change to Pitching

Originally posted on San Diego Padres on SI
By Sam Garcia | Last updated Aug 28, 2025 11:59 AM ET

Yu Darvish spent the first few months of the season dealing with elbow inflammation. He made his first start on July 7 and quickly accrued an uncharacteristic 9.18 ERA in four starts.

Once August hit, Darvish began looking a little more like himself. And when he started in the series opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, he looked every but like a five-time All-Star.

Darvish only gave up one hit and one run, which was a result of second baseman Alex Freeland’s first career home run. He is the only San Diego Padres’ pitcher older than the age of 34 to accomplish an outing that successful.

Darvish told The Athletic’s Dennis Lin that he made a “drastic” change to the way he pitches at the beginning of August. The right-hander has lowered the angle of his arm when he pitches.

Before making the change, Darvish’s arm angle was around 40 degrees. Then, he dropped it to approximately 33 degrees. And now, he is down to 28 degrees.

Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla told Lin that Darvish was the one who proposed lowering his arm angle, and he has never seen a pitcher make that change in the middle of the season.

Niebla also said it only took Darvish one bullpen session to adjust to the change.

“I think that it felt comfortable and felt normal and felt like he was stronger right there right now,” Niebla said to Lin. “You know, he missed time on the IL, and it’s just trying to figure something out.”

Niebla praised Darvish for being able to maintain his diverse repertoire of pitches with the sudden change in arm angle.

The change has also required catcher Freddy Fermin to adjust to Darvish’s pitching style. But the former Kansas City Royals catcher has experience with the style from working with right-handed starting pitchers Seth Lugo and Zach Greinke.

“From a higher slot, you’re going to create more north-south pitches. From (a lower) slot, you’re going to create more east-west pitches,” Niebla said to Lin. “His ability to still maintain eight different looks, nine different looks, is really impressive.”

The Padres are trailing closely behind the Dodgers for the top spot in the division. Darvish, along with San Diego’s dominant bullpen, will be driving forces through the remainder of the season.