page_title: Yu Darvish
section_title: 2012 season
hierarchical_section_title: Yu Darvish / Professional career / Texas Rangers (2012–2017) / 2012 season
caption_attribution_description: Yu Darvish and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters held a press conference at Sapporo Dome.
context_page_description: Farid Yu Darvishsefat, popularly known as Yu Darvish, is a Japanese professional baseball starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball and a YouTuber. Darvish previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Dodgers and in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. In international play, Darvish pitched in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Baseball Classic as a member of the Japanese national team.
  He was considered by many to be the best pitcher in Japanese professional baseball prior to his arrival in Major League Baseball in 2012. In his first MLB season, Darvish finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting. The next season, he finished second in the AL Cy Young Award vote as he led the Major Leagues in strikeouts with 277 and finished fourth in the AL in earned run average at 2.83. On 6 April 2014, Darvish reached the 500 strikeout mark in fewer innings pitched than any starting pitcher in MLB history.
context_section_description: Darvish was posted to Major League Baseball prior to the 2012 season, and is currently represented by agents Don Nomura and Arn Tellem. He added confirmation of this posting on his blog. MLB teams had until 14 December 2011 to submit a blind posting bid, and the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters had until the 20th of that month to announce whether the highest bid would be accepted or rejected. Their announcement of acceptance of the highest bid, from the Texas Rangers, was made on 19 December EST, at a reported $51.7 million. The Rangers then had 30 days to negotiate with Darvish, or he would return to Japan. On 18 January, the Texas Rangers signed Darvish to a $60M dollar contract for six years with a player option to void the last year, fifteen minutes prior to a 4:00pm CST deadline. Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan commented that Darvish had shown more control than he did at Darvish's age.
  Darvish's first start in the Majors came on 9 April against the Seattle Mariners in Texas. His first MLB strikeout was of Dustin Ackley on a 2–2 80 mph curveball; the first MLB hit that he allowed was a single into left field by Ichiro Suzuki on a 2–2 96 mph fastball. He threw for 5​²⁄₃ innings, giving up 8 hits, 5 runs, and 4 walks, and striking out five, gaining his first MLB win in the process. When Alexi Ogando came to relieve him in the 6th, Darvish got a standing ovation from the crowd at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
  Darvish's first start away from Rangers Ballpark in Arlington came on 14 April against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. He pitched for 5​²⁄₃ innings, allowing 9 hits, 4 walks, and 2 runs (one of which was unearned), while collecting 4 strikeouts. Despite the Rangers winning the game, it was a no-decision for Darvish. Instead, teammate Robbie Ross picked up the win.
  On 24 April, in a game against the New York Yankees, Darvish pitched for 8​¹⁄₃ shutout innings, collecting 10 strikeouts, while allowing seven hits and two walks. He gave up a hit to Nick Swisher with one out in the 9th. Joe Nathan, the Rangers' closer, relieved him and induced a ground-ball double play to get the save and secure the third win for Darvish. As Nathan came in, Darvish received a deafening ovation from the crowd. This game also marked the seventh time in MLB history that the two starting pitchers were both Japanese, with Hiroki Kuroda on the mound for the Yankees. The game was also televised in Japan.
  On 30 April, Darvish gave up his first MLB home run to Edwin Encarnación of the Toronto Blue Jays, in a game that Texas won 4–1. Darvish improved to 4–0, striking out nine and giving up only one run.
  For his performances in April, Darvish was named the AL Rookie of the Month. Darvish went 4–0 with a 2.18 ERA and 33 strikeouts. His first loss didn't come until 6 May, against the Cleveland Indians.
  On 20 June, in an interleague game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Darvish got his first career MLB hit. In his first at-bat, he hit a bat-shattering single into shallow right field. He did not get to run the bases however, as Ian Kinsler hit a line shot to the second baseman, and Darvish was tagged off of the bag to complete the double play. He went 1-for-3 for the game.
  On 5 July 2012, the MLB announced that Yu Darvish for the American League and David Freese for the National League were the final two players to make the 2012 MLB All-Star Game rosters. Darvish had 10 wins and five losses with a 3.59 ERA when the MLB announced him as an All-Star. However, Darvish didn't get a chance to pitch in the game, watching from the dugout as his team lost 8–0.
caption: In a press conference at Sapporo Dome on 24 January 2012, Darvish told more than 10,000 Fighters fans why he decided to make a move to Major League Baseball.[45]
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