It seems that the American baseball statistics site ‘Fan Graph’ did not select him as the number one international prospect for nothing. “56 homers” Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows) drew an arch against Yu Darvish (San Diego Padres), who won 188 wins in the US and Japan.
Darvish started his first live pitching at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) national team camp in Miyazaki, Japan on the 21st (Korean time). Darvish faced Munetaka Murakami, Takumi Oshima, Kazuma Okamoto (above Yomiuri), Kensuke Kondo (Softbank) and Shugo Maki (Yokohama DeNA).
Darvish played 7 seasons in Japan and participated in 167 games, recording an average ERA of 1.99 with 93 wins and 38 losses and 1 hold. Afterwards, he recorded 95 wins and 75 losses with an ERA of 3.50 over 10 seasons with the Texas Rangers, LA Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and San Diego. . A whopping 188 individual victories in the United States and Japan.
Darvish pitched in a Japanese stadium 4133 days after he took the mound against the Seibu Lions in the final stage of the Climax Series on October 29, 2011, when he was with the Nippon Ham Fighters. Although it was not a real match, Darvish, who pitched in a situation close to the actual match, was hit by Murakami that day.
Murakami is currently a representative of Japanese professional baseball, hitting 56 home runs last year, beating Softbank Chairman Oh Sadaharu and breaking the Japanese record for the most home runs in a single season. got the title. 메이저놀이터
Murakami is a player with excellent potential enough to be selected as the number one international prospect by the American baseball statistics site ‘Fan Graph’, and it is safe to say that he is the player that major league scouts are currently paying attention to. His career performance is 543 hits, 160 home runs, 430 RBIs, 343 runs batted in, 0.281 OPS, and 0.988 OPS in 553 games over 5 seasons.
Darvish threw a total of six pitches against Murakami that day. Darvish drew Murakami’s miss on the first pitch and recorded the ball on the second pitch. On the third pitch, he succeeded in getting the ball into the strike zone. However, on the fourth pitch, Murakami turned the bat vigorously, and the ball hit the sweet spot and went toward the wall. And it led to a home run that hit the back screen directly.
Afterwards, Darvish succeeded in inducing Murakami to hit the first baseman grounder on the fifth pitch. However, in the 6th pitch, Murakami once again gave up a hitting ball to the front of the left fielder, and recorded 2 hits (1 home run). The Japanese media rushed to report on Murakami’s home run.
According to Japan’s ‘Full Count’, after hitting a home run, Darvish joked, “Don’t be executed in public!” In response, Murakami smiled and said, “I also worked desperately.” Murakami said, “I was in the 4th grade of elementary school when Darvish senior took the mound as a finisher at the WBC in 2009. I can’t believe that we are playing baseball together. He is someone I only saw on TV.”