says he was very impressed by his first meeting with Japanese sensation Yu Darvish and is confident a contract will be completed by this week’s deadline.
“My expectations are that we’ll get something done,” Nolan Ryan said last Thursday.
The Rangers last month bid a record-breaking $51.7 million to win the right to negotiate with the 25-year-old Darvish, considered Japan’s best pitcher. The 30-day negotiating window ended this week on Wednesday evening after the Iran Times went to press.
Ryan made clear he wants Darvish on his team. Ryan, who turns 65 in two weeks, knows something about pitching. He pitched for 27 major league seasons and is baseball’s career strikeout king.
The 6-foot-5 Darvish visited Texas earlier this month for the first time with his representatives and family members. He visited Rangers Ballpark and met with team officials, including Ryan, before returning home to Japan.
“Obviously, he was bigger than I thought,” Ryan said. “I thought he’s built like a pitcher. He looks good. I think he understands a lot of English and I just like his attitude about wanting to compete. To me, he represented all I had been led to believe, so I felt really good about it.”
Ryan is the all-time leader in no-hitters with seven, three more than any other pitcher.
