Yu Darvish just signed a 108-million-dollar extension through the 2028 season with the Padres.
and even though Darvish is one of the best pitchers in the game, many people are furious over this signing, as he’ll be playing until his age 42 seasons.If we take a look at Darvish’s fastball spin rate, we see it’s at an elite rate, as he ranks in the 98th percentile. (which by the way has only been improving as time goes on). His spin rate paired with his excellent VAA, or vertical approach angle, at 5.5 is elite, which is comparable to pitchers such as Jacob Degrom or Christian Javier who threw a no-hitter in the world series. If you don’t know what VAA is let me explain; it’s a measurement of how steeply up or down the ball enters the zone, reported as an angle in degrees, as the pitch crosses the front of home plate. This makes his fastball deceiving, as it does not have as much vertical movement as most fastballs giving it a “rising effect”. If you want to learn more about VAA and what makes a fastball really good, I’ll link a great jolly olive video in the description. But in essence, Darvish’s fastball relies less on Velo and more on spin rate and launch angle, which is a much more sustainable approach to success long into your career.
Jolly Olive Video: https://youtu.be/roU1BiO2r30
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