Chicago Cubs pitcher Yu Darvish was quick to congratulate teammate Anthony Rizzo on his Gold Glove Award this week, but not before giving his friend some good-natured ribbing.
Darvish, who is establishing a reputation as a social media prankster, sent multiple tweets to Rizzo after the announcement, teasing him about the help he had given him during the season:
“You know how many times I had to run to cover first base for him to win the Gold Glove?” Darvish asked. “I’m 60 feet away from first base, but him? He’s only 10 feet away. But congratulations!”
Darvish did say that he was joking, and also sent Rizzo a tweet saying “love you.”
The hurler wasn’t done, however, revealing that his first baseman had made him a deal if he wanted to limit the number of times he had to run to the bag:
“He also told me if I buy a Louis Vuitton backpack for him, I won’t need to run to first base anymore,” Darvish said.
Rizzo captured his third Gold Glove on Sunday as the National League’s best defensive first baseman.
Chicago Baseball
This isn’t the only time this offseason that Darvish has teased a fellow player on social media. After Justin Verlander’s unathletic play in Game 2 of the World Series, which saw the pitcher throw a ball into his own leg, Darvish sent out a tweet replicating a 2018 tweet that Verlander had sent out to the Cubs pitcher.
“Justin, not doing a lot here to help us dispel the pitchers aren’t athletes thing,” Darvish said in the tweet.
