In a final appearance in his home stadium of the last seven years, Darvish told 10,000 fans that he decided to go to the United States so he could face the game’s best batters and become known as the world’s “Number One pitcher.”
For years, Darvish had said he had no interest in moving to the United States and was happy staying in Japan.
But Tuesday he told the fans in the Sapporo Dome that he had changed his mind because it had become increasingly easy for him to beat Japanese batters and he was having trouble staying motivated. “I used to feel that Japan provided the best environment for me,” he said. “But I have come to believe that I need to change that environment and move to the Majors,” as the two US baseball leagues are called in Japan.
“As a baseball player, I want to fight real battles,” he said.
Darvish was the highest paid player in Japanese baseball, earning an estimated 500 million yen ($6.4 million) a season. That will now be eclipsed.
His contract will cost the Texas Rangers $111.7 million. The Rangers must pay Darvish’s old team, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, $51.7 million to get him and then will pay Darvish himself $60 million over six years. (Nippon Ham is the company that owns the baseball team.)
The deal was signed last Tuesday night only minutes before the one-month clock expired on the negotiations between Darvish and the Rangers. It isn’t known what issue kept the talks going so long. Some thought Darvish might have wanted a shorter contract so he could bid up his salary after proving himself. But the Rangers wanted a long contract to amortize the huge sum it is paying his old team.
Darvish’s salary of $10 million a year is nowhere near a record. More than two dozen active players make more than that. Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees tops out the payrolls at $32 million this year. But Rodriguez has proven himself for years while Darvish is brand new to US baseball.
Darvish will wear Rangers’ jersey number 11, the same number he has always worn in Japan’s Pacific League. His new jersey was presented to him at a news conference held in Texas last week.
Darvish said he was delighted to keep his old number. He said, “I haven’t faced any [American] hitters yet. I think I will learn and adjust as I go along.” He said he understood that he will have to adapt off the field as well as on and planned to work at becoming “Americanized.”
The Rangers have won the American League pennant (championship) both of the past two years. That sent them to the World Series against the National League champions both years. And the Rangers lost the World Series both years. Texas fans are hungry to win the series and see Darvish as the ticket that may do it.
Darvish, 25, comes to the United States speaking more English than most Japanese players. His Iranian father and Japanese mother met while attending college in Florida and both speak English. Darvish is also a free agent socially now as he has divorced his Japanese movie star wife.
But what tends to impress American baseball fans is Darvish’s size and power. They are used to small and wiry Japanese players. But they forget Darvish is only half Japanese. He is 6-foot-5 (196 centimeters) and towers over most Americans, not to mention nearly every Japanese—and, for that matter, nearly every Iranian.
Darvish doesn’t have a college education as he went into baseball straight out of high school. He is the 39th Japanese pitcher to come to the US.
For the last five years, his earned run average (ERA) has been under 2.00 every season. Last year, his ERA was an eye-popping 1.44. He clearly didn’t face much of a challenge in Japan. The question now is how much his ERA will slip pitching against American batters. Everyone expects it to slip, but most baseball scouts who have watched him expect him still to dominate.
He will soon have a chance to show his stuff. The Rangers’ first game of the new season will be Sunday, March 4, against the Kansas City Royals, just five weeks away.
New York Mets Manager Terry Collins, who once managed a Japanese team that played against Darvish, called him the best pitcher he had ever seen.