After being hailed as a superstar for several years in Japan, Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish had to acclimate himself to several different aspects of American life and baseball during his first MLB campaign. Now entering his second season with Texas, the hard-throwing righty has adjusted to the rigors of preparing for his outings and looks to build off his strong finish from last year in which he compiled a 3-0 record and 2.21 ERA over his last five starts. Darvish also piled up 39 strikeouts and just seven walks over 36 2/3 innings during that five-game stretch.
"(He's) understanding what’s expected of him, mainly understanding what’s expected of himself, rather than what other people are expecting of him," manager Ron Washington told ESPN.com on Friday. "He knows the routine that we go through now, he’s been through it one time and he’s come in and he has a different look in his eyes. He’s more relaxed, he’s just going about his business, going through the process of just trying to make certain that he’s ready when the opening bell rings."