Absurd Yu Darvish Stat Proves How Much He's Improved for Cubs in 2nd Half

Ever since Yu Darvish touched down at Wrigley and was inserted as the alleged ace of Chicago Cubs, he hasn't been able to replicate the success he had as a member of the Texas Rangers.

After an incredibly poor start to this season, partially due to an inability to throw strikes consistently, Darvish has turned it around and is now demonstrating pinpoint control on the rubber.

This absurd stat, provided by Christopher Kamka, shows the vast improvement Darvish has made to his control. After walking three of his first five opponents in 2019, he's only surrendered three walks to his past 251 batters faced.

Darvish held the league-lead for walks for a good chunk of the season, until he began to turn the corner over the summer.

To put his numbers in perspective, Darvish threw a total of 41 walks throughout his first 12 starts. Since then, he's walked 13 batters in his past 15 starts, and has issued just one free pass throughout the month of August.

But while his control is drastically improved, Darvish is still being plagued by the long ball. He surrendered 12 earned runs this month while giving up nine home runs.

Hopefully he can continue to dominate the rubber as the season progresses, and with the addition of his latest pitch--a knucklecurve taught to him by Craig Kimbrel-- Darvish's arsenal of pitches is wider than ever.

Let's just hope he can continue to paint the corners and locate his stuff, as his re-emergence will be critical to the Cubs' postseason success.