Yu Darvish: 18 IP, 0 R

Yu Darvish, the 21-year-old Iranian-Japanese righty, is off to a great start to the 2008 season in Japan. After pitching a complete game shutout in a 1-0 victory on Opening Day for the Nippon Ham Fighters, he pitched another 9 scoreless frames in a no-decision.

Darvish, listed at 6-5, 185 pounds, seems to keep getting better and better. He has ERAs of 3.53, 2.89, and 1.82 in the past three seasons, while improving his K/9 from 4.96, 6.92 to 9.10 in the same span. His BB/9 rate has also improved, from 4.6 to 3.8 to 2.1.

He also became a father for the first time in the last week. He married his actress girlfriend (also 21), who was 2 months pregnant when the engagement was announced.

Though teams such as the Yankees are thought to be drooling over him, Darvish may not be so eager to make the jump. Besides starting a family with a newborn, he's a star in every sense of the word. Imagine what the women of Red Sox Nation would do if Josh Beckett were 5 years younger and looked like Brad Pitt. Many think Darvish is a better pitcher than Daisuke Matsuzaka, and women I've consulted say he's far better looking than Jacoby Ellsbury. Google Image search "ダルビッシュ" (that says "Darvish" in Japanese), and you'll get an idea of how Japanese women worship his image. (Having Safe Search off will better make my point.) He's posed shirtless, in his underwear, and in the nude. He has his own perfume. Women scream and take pictures when they recognize him on the street. He's really, really good at baseball. He might as well be a god in Japan. He's repeatedly stated that he has no interest in playing in MLB, or in facing any particular hitter.

Of course, if the arrival of Darvish is greeted with the kind of media attention that came with Matsuzaka, I'm sure sales of pink Darvish t-shirts would set some sort of record. Nippon Ham figures to gain even more than the $51 million that Seibu got for Matsuzaka's rights. Many fans are already clamoring for Darvish to take his game to the major leagues. Perhaps things will change with time, but for the time being we stateside baseball fans will have to observe and covet Yu Darvish from afar.