Rob Friedman, a 55-year-old lawyer, was as surprised as anyone when Yu Darvish reached out to him for pitching advice. On the surface, Friedman is an unlikely candidate to have the ear of one of the world's best pitchers. He has never pitched in MLB nor coached on that level. That, however, has not stopped Darvish and several other MLB pitchers from seeking him out.
If it sounds crazy, just know Friedman feels the same way.
“It’s surreal, like that doesn’t even make sense to me,” Friedman told The Japan Times over Zoom from his home in Georgia. “I have Yu Darvish — the man of, what, 12 different pitches — he DM’ed me about learning Shane Bieber’s knuckle-curve. So I broke it down for him, and he loved it and actually threw it the next game because he’s Yu Darvish and he’s amazing.”