He beat Park Chan-ho to reserve the No. 1 spot. But baseball is like life, nothing comes easy.

Darvish Yu (37, San Diego Padres) was placed on the 15-day disabled list. San Diego announced on MLB.com on Monday that Darvish has been diagnosed with elbow inflammation. Darvish is 8-10 with a 4.56 ERA in 24 games this season.

He signed a six-year, $108 million extension with the club before the season. It was a surprise for a pitcher in his late 30s. Darvish had no reason not to accept. After all, he went 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA in 30 games in 2022.

However, his performance this season has sagged slightly from last year. His BABIP increased from 0.207 to 0.259 and his WHIP increased from 0.95 to 1.30. According to BaseballSabermetrics, each pitch type is also up from last year. The barrel hit rate dropped from 8.8% last year to 6.8% this year, while the hard hit rate increased from 37.1% last year to 38.2% this year. Worst of all, his walk rate has skyrocketed from 4.8% last year to 7.3% this year.

His recent pace hasn’t been great either. In five August starts, he is 3-0 with a 4.66 ERA. He hasn’t added a win in a month after picking up the win against his hometown Texas Rangers on July 30 with six innings of three-hit ball, nine strikeouts and two walks. He still has 103 career wins. 소닉카지노

San Diego is effectively out of the running for the postseason despite Kim’s stellar performance, so there’s no reason to rush Darvish, who is locked up to a long-term deal, back. In fact, MLB.com reports that the Padres will likely keep Joe Musgrove out for the season with shoulder inflammation if they decide at some point that a postseason run is not possible. The health of Darvish and Musgrove is a big deal for San Diego.

There are hints of a possible season-ending injury. MLB.com reports, “Manager Bob Melvin acknowledged that Darvish pitched with some discomfort. He won’t return until at least mid-September. He has shown flashes of his usual brilliance this season, but has been inconsistent.”

If Darvish fulfills his contract, he will pass Nomo and Park Chan-ho for the most wins by an Asian major leaguer. However, the road to Park Chan-ho and Nomo is not a smooth one. They were the first generation of Asian major leaguers to accumulate 123-134 wins against all odds.