Rangers notes: Darvish dominates, but Choo finds a pitch
Yu Darvish threw another impressive round of live batting practice on Friday morning, drawing rave reviews from teammates and his new catcher Carlos Corporan.
He buckled the knees of several of the Rangers’ top hitters with his 60 mph curve ball, including Adrian Beltre, who bailed out on the pitch before watching it come in over the plate.
About the only mistake from Darvish was a pitch he left over the plate to Shin-Soo Choo, who hit it over the right-field fence.
“He was sharp, crisp, a lot of strikes,” said Beltre, who joked that he wasn’t ready this early in spring training for the bending curve ball. “I’d rather know it was coming so I didn’t have to buckle up.”
“Everybody was laughing because [Beltre] thought the ball was going to hit him and it was a strike right in the middle,” Corporan said. “It’s unbelievable what Darvish can do. He’s a professional.”
Darvish jokinly blamed Choo’s homer on the dry Arizona air. Choo, in fact, agreed.
“A deep fly ball to right field,” Choo said.
Darvish was pumped to face major-league hitters for the first time since his season was cut short early last August with shoulder soreness.
“My ball had a lot of power and my breaking balls were sharp, but I was overthrowing a little and my balance was little bit off compared to my last live bp and bullpen,” Darvish told the Japanese media after his second live BP session.
He admitted he likely was overthrowing because of the talent facing him in the box.
“Well, yeah, if you line those guys up how many millions of dollars are they?” he laughed. “That’s why.”
Corporan was astonished at how well Darvish executed his penchant for combining a fastball in on hitters, followed by a slider on their back foot.
“That’s his strength. Out of six, he got five. Unbelievable,” Corporan said. “He executed. That’s really impressive.”
A healthy, dominating Darvish was good to see, Beltre said, even with the embarrassing moment.
“There’s no doubt he’s a huge part of this team, obviously without him it’s going to be hard to get that rotation in place,” Beltre said. “We hope that he’s healthy and we hope that he can stay like that all year.”
Rangers agree with 16
The Rangers agreed to terms on one-year contracts for 16 players Friday, leaving seven still unsigned for the 2015 season: catcher Robinson Chirinos, and pitchers Luke Jackson, Phil Klein, Nick Martinez, Roman Mendez, Tanner Scheppers and Shawn Tolleson.
The major league split salaries for the 16 signed players range from $507,500 for Hansero Alberto to $517,760 for pitcher Nick Tepesch. Others include outfielders Michael Choice, Ryan Rua, Jake Smolinski, and infielders Rougned Odor, Jurickson Profar and Tomas Telis. Those that signed:
Player | Salary |
Hanser Alberto, INF | $507,500 |
Jorge Alfaro, C | $507,500 |
Lisalverto Bonilla, RHP | $508,500 |
Michael Choice, OF | $512,220 |
Alex Claudio, LHP | $508,500 |
Delino DeShields, OF | $507,500 |
Jon Edwards, RHP | $508,500 |
Jerad Eickhoff, RHP | $507,500 |
Rougned Odor, 2B | $513,850 |
Spencer Patton, RHP | $508,500 |
Jurickson Profar, INF | $509,500 |
Anthony Ranaudo, RHP | $508,500 |
Ryan Rua, OF | $508,500 |
Jake Smolinski, OF | $508,500 |
Tomas Telis, C | $508,500 |
Nick Tepesch, RHP | $517,760 |
Ticket weather issues
The snowy weather in North Texas has put a damper on the Rangers’ first day of individual ticket sales.
Because of conditions in Arlington, the Globe Life Park ticket office closed at 11 a.m. Friday, six hours early.
Tickets are available online at texasrangers.com or by calling 972-726-4377. The Rangers caution the wait for phone orders may be extended because of a reduced staff due to the weather.
The Rangers hope, weather permitting, the ticket office will open as scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Beginning March 2, the ticket office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Individual game tickets are available except for Opening Day. Opening Day tickets are still available as part of full and partial season ticket plans for 2015.
Stefan Stevenson, 817-390-7760
Twitter: @StevensonFWST
This story was originally published February 27, 2015 at 5:26 PM with the headline "Rangers notes: Darvish dominates, but Choo finds a pitch."