Chicago Cubs: Yu Darvish starting to turn a corner on the mound

After a disappointing start to the season, it seems like Chicago Cubs right-handed starting pitcher, Yu Darvish is starting to turn a corner on the mound.

If you ask any Chicago Cubs fan about the first year and half of Yu Darvish, all the answers would probably be the same. I’d expect words like ‘disappointing’, ‘failure’ or ‘wasted money’ likely come up more often than not.

Darvish signed a six-year deal worth $126 million late last offseason. Expectations were high for the right-hander when he arrived on the North Side. As Cubs fans, we all saw what Darvish could do firsthand in the 2017 NLCS while he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched six innings against Chicago and only gave up one run and felt like he was in control the entire time.

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Then came the 2018 season where Darvish only started eight games and was not great in really any of them. The four-time All-Star then went on the IL with an elbow injury and started his rehab to get back to the big league team. That ended up fizzling out and he was out for the year.

So in 2019 expectations were still very high once again for the Japan-born starter. All offseason, he mentioned that he felt healthy and ready to prove that he was worth the deal that he got.

The beginning of the season did not go as planned for Darvish as he got off to a not-so-great start.  In his first eight starts of the season, he had a 5.40 ERA which as we all know is not what any Cubs fans want to see.

I think the most surprising thing about those first eight starts were the walks that Darvish issued.  He doled out 33 walks in those first eight starts of the season. The right-hander hadn’t been pitching deep into ballgames, either. It seemed like every Darvish start was done in the fourth or fifth inning. We all know that the bullpen had struggled and short starts definitely contributed to those shortcomings.

Over Darvish’s last five starts he has started to turn a corner that all Cubs fans should be excited about. In his last five outings, Darvish has a 4.25 ERA which still is not great but it’s pointing in the right direction.

Another reason to be excited about is the fact that Darvish has only issued 11 walks in those five starts. One reason for this turn around could possibly be for Darvish using his cutter much more. In those first eight starts, he had only used the cutter 18.1 percent of the time. Then in his last five starts, he has used the cutter at a 39.4 percent clip. It will be interesting to see if he continues to use his cutter as much as he has lately and if it continues to work.

Darvish’s last three starts he has been even better. In all of those games, he has gone at least six innings. All the numbers seem to be treading in the right direction for the Chicago hurler, and hopefully, they continue to do that and he continues to build more confidence on the mound.