Major League Baseball (MLB) San Diego Padres, where Kim Ha-sung belongs, will put up Blake Snell, not ‘first starter’ Darvish Yu, as the starting pitcher for the opening game. Darvish’s appearance in the first game of the season was delayed due to his participation in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC).

MLB.com announced on the 25th (Korean time), “Snell will be the starting pitcher for San Diego’s major league opening game.”

As a result, Snell will start the major league opening game against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park in San Diego, California on the 31st.

After transferring to San Diego in 2021, Snell took over as the team’s opening day starting pitcher in his third season. His individual opening start record is the second after 2019 when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Snell took the mound four times in exhibition games this season, recording 1 win and 1 loss, an average ERA of 5.63, and 17 strikeouts. Snell was sluggish with 9 runs (7 earned) in 3 innings against the Seattle Mariners on the 18th.

Darvish was the starting pitcher for San Diego’s opening game in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

However, as Japan won the championship at the WBC, which ended on the 22nd, Darvish’s three consecutive season opening starts were canceled due to a shortened preparation period.

In the WBC, Darvish started in the first round match against Korea (3 runs, 2 earned runs in 3 innings), and made relief appearances in the quarterfinal match against Italy (2 innings, 1 run) and the final match against the United States (1 run in 1 inning). With the major leagues opening on the 31st, Darvish is not yet in a state where he can throw long innings. 토토사이트

In addition, in preparation for the WBC, Darvish joined the Miyazaki field training of the Japanese baseball team without being called up to the San Diego spring camp in February.

“I put all my energy into Japan’s WBC win, and because of that, I couldn’t build up (increasing the number of innings pitched) in spring camp like I did in previous years. I have some concerns (about the current season’s readiness),” Darvish said. .

Darvish, who failed to appear in the opening game, plans to prepare for the season through minor league games for the time being. “I’m going to go slowly, not in a hurry,” he said. However, San Diego said Darvish’s first major league appearance of the season would not be too late.

Meanwhile, Joe Musgrove, who was mentioned as a starting pitcher for San Diego’s opening game, recently suffered a fractured left big toe during weight training.