After another dominant outing for Double-A Frisco on Sunday, it appears Yu Darvish is set to return to a big-league mound for the first time since August of 2014.
Back then, the Rangers' manager was Ron Washington, which just goes to show how much has happened since then. At times, it's almost like he's been forgotten, but that's about to change in a hurry.
Darvish threw six scoreless innings for Frisco on Sunday and needed 87 pitches to do so after entering the game with a plan of six innings or 90 pitches. In five rehab starts — at Double-A and Triple-A — Darvish has allowed two earned runs in 20 innings. In that time, he's fanned 21 batters and walked just four.
We get it, those are minor-league hitters, but stuff is stuff, and Darvish has flashed upper-90s fastballs in his rehab stint and hit 96 twice on Sunday after getting up to 98 mph in some earlier rehab starts.
"I threw close to 90 pitches today, so I feel good for that," Darvish told reporters in Frisco on Sunday through his translator. "It's kind of hard to tell right now. I have to pitch against those guys [major-league hitters] in reality, but I feel like I'm good to go."
And with that, the Rangers' rotation just got a huge addition.
