DARVISH-TANAKA REVISITED

It started in Japan and now it's in MLB.  The comparison between Japanese pitching stars Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers and Masahiro Tanaka of the New York Yankees.  The 25 year old Tanaka is a rookie while the 27 year old Darvish is in his third season.  The Japan numbers were so close, but at the end Tanaka squeezed by Darvish as the best pitcher to come out of Japan.  As we scan the AL pitching leaderboards both right handers are up there with the best with Tanaka sporting slightly better positions.
 

Yu Darvish vs Indians at Arlington  ( zimbio.com)

The eye test says Darvish throws harder with a little bit more pitch variety but with room to grow in his command.  Tanaka has less raw stuff but looks like a finished product with his great command  and poise hitting his spots and changing speeds.  His split finger fastball is one of the best pitches in MLB right now.  
 

Yu Darvish vs Oakland A's  (zimbio.com)

Tanaka has transitioned to MLB better than expected (2013 ERA Japan 1.27, 2014 ERA MLB 1.99), becoming the team ace  (11-1-1.99) after beginning as the 4th starter and moving up while his fellow rotation members have fallen like flies (CCSabathia, Ivan Nova, Michael Pineda).  His rookie year so far is much better than Yu's first season (Yu 3.90 ERA- Tanaka 1.99 ERA).  He's not pitched less than 6 innings in any start and his only loss was to the NL Central last place Chicago Cubs.  Here are some pitching metrics:
               WAR  ERA   K/9    H/9    W/9   AVG    HR
Tanaka    3.9    1.99     10.2    7.1    1.4    .214     10
Darvish   3.3    2.39     10.9    7.7    3.2    .228      5

Masahiro has allowed 10 HR's in 100 IP with the Yankees.  He allowed 10 ( 4 in 2012 and 6 in 2013) in 385 innings his last 2 years in Japan.  Fangraphs points out a big difference:
                     OZS%                OZC%
Darvish          30.3                   58.1
Tanaka           38.4                   51.0

Hitters swing at a lot more pitches out of the strike zone for Tanaka (38.4% to 30.3) and the Out Of Zone Contact % is a lot lower for the Yankees ace (51.1% to 58.1).  Product no doubt of the split finger fastball.  The breakdown of type of pitches thrown is:
                      FB%           SL%          SF%
Darvish         58.0             19.0             2.3
Tanaka          42.0             21.0            25.4

They throw around the same amount of sliders, with Darvish throwing a lot more fastballs and Masahiro throws his split finger pitch 25% of the time while Yu rarely uses this pitch.

Masahiro Tanaka at Yankee Stadium  (zimbio.com)

With more than half a season to go, I expect some regression for Tanaka as hitters get used to his repertoire and devise a better game plan.

Tanaka has been more efficient throwing more strikes ( 67% to 63) and getting a lot more swings and misses ( 21.2% to 15.3).

Masahiro Tanaka in Seattle  (zimbio.com)

The two pitching stars are among the best and draw a lot of attention when they take the mound.  The New York market and the Yankee franchise is very demanding.  The "dog days" are ahead and the toughest part of the MLB schedule is yet to be played.