Yu Darvish or Masahiro Tanaka? Which one would you rather have on your fantasy team? These are the top two Japanese pitchers in the majors, followed closely by the underrated Hisashi Iwakuma. Both of these pitchers stole the headlines during the off season as teams and fans waited to see where these two superstars would sign or if they would be posted as was the case with Tanaka. Both pitchers are in the prime of their careers, but which one provides greater fantasy value?
First lets talk about the superstar the is Yu Darvish. Darvish began his major league career with a fairly average rookie in which Darvish has a 3.91 ERA and a 1.280 WHIP. He did however manage to strikeout 221 batters in only 191.1 innings. Darvish has continued to get better each year having posted a 2.83 ERA last year and has decreased that ERA to a miniscule 2.36 this year. Darvish also continues to strikeout batters at a fantastic rate with a K/9 ratio of 11.9 last year and has 101 strikeouts this season in only 85.1 innings of work.
Early on in his career Darvish struggled with his command. It wasn’t until his near perfect game against the Astros in 2012 in which Darvish pitched almost exclusively from the stretch did he find better command. He realized then that he has much better control of his pitches from the stretch and has now made the adjustment of completely ditching his windup. Since making this adjustments Darvish has seen his WHIP drop and has become a more complete pitcher who just recorded his first career major league shutout on June 11th.
There is not much that Darvish does not contribute to your fantasy team. He is the best strikeout pitcher in the majors right now and gives you CY Young quality ERA numbers despite pitching in home run friendly Globe Life Park in Arlington. Playing for the rangers also helps Darvish to rack up the wins making him the complete package that delivers quality numbers in every statistic.
Next up is the young phenom on the New York Yankees Masahiro Tanaka. Tanaka has been better than advertised since coming to the Yankees from Japan. Tanaka has lived up to the hype and is earning every penny of the monstrous contract that he signed in the off season (seven years 155 million).
In his first year in the bigs Tanaka is putting together a CY Young caliber season. In 13 starts Tanaka is 10-1 with a 2.02 ERA, .940 WHIP and 103 strikeouts in 93.2 innings. While some might say that he ERA has to increase his FIP is 2.55 so while a slight regression is possible he isn’t pitching entirely above his capability. Tanaka truly is the complete package he excels in every category that you would want a pitcher to be good in and already has two complete games including one shutout against the Mets.
While it is a small sample size, only 13 starts these numbers fall right in line with what he did in Japan. The one difference between Tanaka now and the Tanaka from Japan is that he has actually shaped himself into a strikeout pitcher with his virtually unhittable splitter. If this is a sign of things to come Tanaka is going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come as he is only 25 years old.
If I were to chose which one of these two superstar pitchers I want on my team I would have to go Tanaka despite his limited experience. Even though Darvish will get more strikeouts I love the command of Tanaka, only 14 walks, and he keeps his pitch counts down which is why in only 13 starts he already has more complete games with two and is tied in shutouts with one. Darvish tends to throw a lot of pitches which limits his ability to go deep into games despite nearly throwing a no hitter twice against the Astros. You can make the case for either starter on your fantasy team, especially if you like the strikeouts of Darvish, but if I have a choice between the two I am going Tanaka.