Texas Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel was critical of team starting pitcher Yu Darvish over the weekend after Darvish gave up only two runs in seven innings to the Chicago White Sox but the team ultimately lost, 3-2, because the Rangers only managed to score two runs themselves. He reportedly called Darvish the “supposed” ace of the team. His words prompted an ongoing discussion between him and his own Twitter followers:
@TheMrDouglass haha I dont hate him but he has been very disappointing in close games. Shows no signs of having killer instinct an ace needs
— Eric Nadel (@nadeler) August 25, 2013
Nadel is arguing that Darvish just doesn’t known how to nail down close games, to find a way to get a win for his team even when the Rangers’ offense is sputtering.
When confronted with numbers that indicate his perception of Darvish’s performance is not entirely accurate, he responds:
@bradstick_lsb Blahblahblah. Yes he is great with big leads.
— Eric Nadel (@nadeler) August 25, 2013
So it boils down to the “my gut feelings based on a couple of especially disappointing losses outweigh all your fancy objective evidence, Poindexter” argument.
Lone Star Ball rolls through all the relevant data. Summary (“high leverage” means close scores):
Yu Darvish is a great pitcher having a great year and I believe one of the best pitchers in the game. His late game and high leverage results haven’t been as good as his low leverage this year, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable saying that it’s because he’s lacking something considering it was a strength last year and we don’t have a lot of data to draw a meaningful conclusion.
