After his two scoreless, hitless innings on Sunday that consumed 32 pitches, Yu Darvish gave the "A-OK" on Monday saying he felt fine and had no concerns with his surgically repaired elbow.
Darvish, who last threw in a regular-season Rangers game in August 2014, is nearing his return from Tommy John surgery that put him out of action for the entire 2015 season, in which the Rangers still managed to win the AL West.
The righty hit 97 mph on the radar with his two-seam fastball, which is nothing short of remarkable for a first rehab outing coming off Tommy John, and consistently sat at 94 mph. His off-speed stuff was not crisp, but that's always to be expected with pitchers in his situation.
With his all-clear proclamation on Monday, the Rangers went ahead and set Darvish for his second rehab start. This time, he'll look to go three innings at about 45 pitches and it'll come down I-35 for Triple-A Round Rock on Friday night.
Ideally, Darvish will ramp up each start with another inning and another 15 pitches until he goes six innings. After that, it'll be time for #DarvishDay.
