Yu Darvish appears to have found the fountain youth with regard to his velocity, and even he seems a little surprised by it.
The Chicago Cubs right-hander touched 98 miles per hour on several pitches during his first start of the spring on Saturday and flashed some nasty swing-and-miss stuff too. Take a look:
Three strikeouts on the day for @faridyu. pic.twitter.com/Oe75QDhZF1
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) February 29, 2020
After the game, Darvish joked that he was worried he might have taken a supplement over the offseason, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Yu Darvish after throwing 98 mph in his first spring start (joking): “Throwing the high velo now makes me worry I took something supplement wise in the off season.”
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) February 29, 2020
The four-time MLB All-Star Darvish recently turned 33 and is coming off an underwhelming 2019 campaign, going 6-8 with a 3.98 ERA and a league-leading 33 homers allowed. He has four more years left on his deal with the Cubs however, so the increased velocity has to be a welcome sight for them.
Darvish has also been throwing some gas on social media lately, and he could be setting himself up for a nice bounceback year in 2020.
