2025 Fantasy Baseball: Yu Darvish Profile, Preview, Predictions

San Diego Padres Starting Pitcher Yu Darvish | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Yu Darvish comes off an injury season, and age (38) is not on his side. He still has the ability to strike batters out, but does Darvish have another winning fantasy year left in his right arm?

Yu Darvish randomly stole Michael King's Mechanics to create his "King Sweeper"! 😯 pic.twitter.com/RLhwRg50Vr

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 12, 2024

SP – Yu Darvish, SD (ADP – 225.4)

2025 Yu Darvish Pitching Stats Profile | Shawn Childs

The disaster dump for Darvish happened again in 2023. His season was somewhat on track over his first nine games (3.67 ERA, 1.130 WHIP, .227 BAA, and 57 strikeouts over 54.0 innings), but the bad outweighed the good by a wide margin over his final 15 appearances (5.14 ERA, 1.401 WHIP, 11 home runs, and 84 strikeouts over 82.1 innings). Over this span, he allowed four runs or more in eight starts. His season ended in late August with a right elbow issue (bone spur).

In 2024, Darvish regained his confidence and success on the mound over his first 56.1 innings (3.20 ERA, 1,065 WHIP, and 53 strikeouts). A groin issue pushed him to the injured list in early June, followed by a right elbow issue later in the month and a personal off-the-field issue in July. His return to the Padres starting rotation came on September 4th. Darvish posted a 3.55 ERA, 1.066 WHIP, and 25 strikeouts over his final 25.1 innings while handling himself well in two games in the postseason (three runs, eight baserunners, and two home runs over 13.2 innings with seven strikeouts).

His overall velocity was down slightly on some of his pitches. He threw seven pitches – four-seamer (.209 BAA), slider (.213 BAA), sinker (.246 BAA), curveball (.163 BAA), split-finger (.200 BAA), cutter (.077 BAA), and changeup (.000 BAA) – with success. Despite the direction of his arm, his exit velocity against (89.4) and hard-hit rate (39.9) were career-highs.

Fantasy Outlook: The fantasy market has seen enough of Darvish based on his sliding ADP. He brings a professional approach while grading favorably in his command. The direction of his arm appears to be down based on his lower strikeout rate (8.6) and recent health woes (24 missed games over the past two seasons). I don’t view him as fantasy roadkill, but I won’t fight for him in drafts. Let’s see what his arm brings in spring training before racing to invest in his arm.

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