Padres News: Yu Darvish Shown Little Love in New Starting Pitcher Rankings
Opening Day is a few days away, and your San Diego Padres will be ready to take the league by storm. The Friars will open up their season against division-rival Colorado Rockies on Thursday.
The Padres will have their lefty ace Blake Snell ready to open things up, but according to Zachary Rymer of Bleacher Report, Snell isn't San Diego's top ace. Rymer made a list of each team's top ace, and he believes Yu Darvish is their top ace.
16. RHP Yu Darvish, San Diego Padres
Blake Snell will start San Diego's opener, but only because Joe Musgrove is injured, and Darvish needs more time to get sorted following the World Baseball Classic. He's a Tommy John survivor who'll be 37 by the time this season is over, but you'd never know it from how he still has good velocity and spin, particularly on a fastball and slider that still rate at the top of their respective classes. He has nothing to fear...except for maybe Kyle Schwarber.
Darvish is still at the top of his game after a dominant 2022 season. He punched out 197 batters in 194.2 innings, had a 3.10 ERA, and only allowed 37 walks in 30 starts.
He'll be entering his third season as a Padre, and with the types of pitchers they have on their rotation, it says a lot about Darvish.
The two-time World Baseball Classic champion will remain in San Deigo for a long time and has shown no signs of slowing down. We can't wait to see what the five-time All-Star has in store for the Padres in 2023.
