Prior to his trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yu Darvish was in the midst of his toughest stretch since entering the Majors in 2012. In 137 innings with the Texas Rangers, he struggled with location and posted career-worsts in ERA (4.01), FIP (3.99) and strikeouts per nine (9.7).
Darvish’s move to Los Angeles proved to be beneficial, as he saw improvements in nearly every statistical category. Over 49.2 frames, the four-time All-Star pitched to a 3.44 ERA, 3.38 FIP and 1.15 WHIP with 61 strikeouts to 13 walks.
Among the many factors for Darvish’s revitalization included Yasmani Grandal’s and Austin Barnes’ excellent pitch framing skills, a better pitching environment at Dodger Stadium, and key input from the coaching staff and front office.
Darvish specifically praised longtime Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt for allowing him to stick to his same routine, per Mike Piellucci of Sports Illustrated:
“He’s very quiet, but when he says things, it’s all positives,” Darvish says. “Honeycutt just let me be who I am. I think that helped me to just relax.”
Darvish altered his mechanics and pitch selection during his time with the Dodgers, but maintained the same mentality each time he took the mound.
The right-hander additionally received data from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Farhan Zaidi that aided him before outings.
While it’s unlikely that Los Angeles will commit the financial resources to retain Darvish, the club is hopeful that they’ll be able to work out a new contract with Honeycutt.
There was previous speculation that Honeycutt would not return next season, but Friedman said he expects the longest-tenured Dodgers coach to remain on the staff in 2018.
