Yu Darvish Is Going To The All-Star Game

Yu Darvish is headed to the All-Star Game.

MLB.com has reported that Darvish won the MLB 2012 All-Star Game final vote along with the St. Louis Cardinals’ David Freese to earn a trip to Kansas City. Darvish will be the ninth Japanese player to appear in the All-Star Game, and the third to win the final vote, along with then-Yankee Hideki Matsui in 2004 and Hideki Okajima (then with the Red Sox) in 2007.

Darvish will have plenty of familiar faces with him in Kansas City--Josh Hamilton, Mike Napoli and Adrian Beltre were all voted in as starters, while Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus made the team as reserves. Fellow staffers Matt Harrison and Joe Nathan will be there too, as will (of course) Ron Washington, who’s managing the American League squad.

"[Yu] has a lot of pride and he is very determined," team president Nolan Ryan said, per MLB.com. "I truly believe he wants to be one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues. He works very hard and he's focused. That's very positive for somebody who is 25 years old ... or at any age."

The 83rd All-Star Game is set for July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.