Yu Darvish

Leading by example

11

Height
196cm

Weight
100kg

Age
36

RHP San Diego Padres

Few pitchers offer as many different deliveries as the veteran of Japan's 2009 WBC championship. Samurai Japan's elder statesman, Darvish, has been a font of information and a tower of calm among his Japan-based teammates. Darvish led the PL in strikeouts three times and has led MLB once. He's coming off a career year with the Padres in which he became the second pitcher after Hideo Nomo to record 3,000 top-flight strikeouts, including 1,000 in both Japan and MLB.