Yu Darvish is a career .101 hitter. He has homered once, doubled twice and slipped rounding second. His 2018 spill on the basepaths prompted a jocular tweet from Justin Verlander, who, owing to his residence in the American League, has seldom wielded a bat.
“Not doing a lot here to help us dispel the pitchers aren’t athletes thing,” wrote Verlander, a former AL MVP and career .100 hitter.
On a recent morning almost three years later, Darvish employed his own brand of humor when discussing the topic of hitting for himself. The new Padres starter had switched teams but not leagues. Yet he and other National League pitchers were gearing up for a return to an old reality. With a pandemic ongoing and a 162-game schedule looming, Darvish put a dry spin on what has become an increasingly popular sentiment.
