Darvish to make long-anticipated MLB return Saturday
Welcome back Yu Darvish, it's been a while.
Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister announced Monday the highly anticipated return of the right-hander will take place Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he makes his first major-league start since 2014.
The 29-year-old Japanese pitcher, who is 14 months removed from Tommy John surgery, has impressed through five rehab outings. He tossed six scoreless innings at Double-A on Sunday, striking out six and believes he's ready for his return to the big leagues.
"It's kind of hard to tell right now," Darvish told reporters of possibly facing MLB hitters after his most recent rehab start. "I have to pitch against those guys (major leaguers) in reality. I feel like I'm good to go."
When asked how he's going to go about pitching against big-league hitters, Darvish sounded confident in his game plan.
"Just act like it's going to be another rehab outing if I'm on the major-league mound the next time. Just not too much pressure," Darvish said. "It was better than I thought it was going to be. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now."
Prior to his injury, Darvish owned a 39-25 record with a 3.27 ERA and strikeout rate of 11.2 per nine innings during three seasons with the Rangers.