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The day after the Texas Rangers won the bidding for the negotiating rights to pitcher Yu Darvish, a shipment of major league baseballs was delivered to the righthander in Japan so that he could begin training with them immediately. Consider it the first official step in the baseball version of coming to America. Spring training -- with the emphasis on training -- brings the next and more difficult challenge of making the jump from pitching in Nippon Pro Baseball to Major League Baseball.
The Rangers will have Darvish on the same training regimen as all of their pitchers, though Texas GM Jon Daniels emphasized that there are allowances within the general framework of the schedule. One pitcher, for instance, might throw 35 pitches in a side session while another might...
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