There are 9 wins left until Park Chan-ho wins the most in Asia…Darvish elbow surgery → Are you on the verge of retirement?
Nov 05, 2025
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Darvish Yu (San Diego Padres), who left a brilliant record, is on the verge of retirement. Darvish recently underwent elbow surgery on his SNS on the 5th (Korea Standard Time). You can't throw in the 2026 season. I will rehabilitate hard so that I can throw the ball comfortably again."
It is Darvish's third elbow surgery in his career. Darvish, who was born in 1986, also faced the twilight of his baseball career. Physically and psychologically, rehabilitation and return are not easy.
He played 194 ⅔ innings and started 30 games in 2022, just before his long-term contract, recording a 16-8 record with a 3.10 ERA. Just in time, Darvish once said he wanted to retire at the age of 36, raising the possibility of retirement, but he signed a six-year, $108 million (about 145.6 billion won) extension contract with San Diego in the winter of understanding.
At that time, Darvish's class and passion were still the best, but given his age, it was said that it was too dangerous a contract. And the worry became a reality.
Darvish stumbled in his first year with 24 games and 136 ⅓ innings. Last year, the absence of injuries gradually increased to 81 ⅔ innings in 16 games and 72 innings in 15 games this year, and the slump deepened. In particular, his career record of 5 wins, 5 losses and a 5.38 ERA this season is his worst. And there are still three more years left on the contract.
In addition to his skills, Darvish has many fans in Korea due to his tall height of 1m96, flexible pitching form and beautiful appearance. In particular, he is a brilliant player with his leadership leading the Japanese national team by serving as a spiritual pillar of the Japanese national team along with Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) during the last World Baseball Classic (WBC).
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The runner-up is Hideo Nomo (123 wins). It is an achievement that he has already dominated the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) and challenged the big league at the late age of 27.
Darvish is the next player after that. He was the most likely candidate to surpass Park Chan-ho, but he was in danger of being hamstrung by his injury. The player's excellent class, his long-term contract with San Diego, seemed to give him plenty of time, but he was again hampered by an elbow injury that has plagued him all season.
Darvish, who was in agony right after the end of the season, finally chose surgery ahead of the opening of the FA market.
To put it the other way, it can be seen that there is still a will to extend his career. It is Darvish who still sprays a fastball over 150km. Considering career extension alone, it may be possible to play for about two more years after rehabilitation.
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There is no candidate other than Darvish to challenge Park Chan-ho's record for the most wins in Asia for the time being. Hiroki Kuroda (79 wins) Ryu Hyun-jin and Masahiro Tanaka (78) have already finished their big league careers. Kenta Maeda (68 wins) is also uncertain to remain in the big league. Ohtani still has only 39 wins.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
