Darvish denies gambling as MLB looks into brother’s arrest

The Dallas Morning News has reported that the Major League Baseball is investigating the younger brother of Texas Rangers’ ace, Yu Darvish. The Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office in mid-November filed charges of gambling and operation a betting ring. Sho’s ring allegedly took bets on professional baseball games including MLB and NPB contests.

The report said it was unclear whether Sho Darvish took action on any Rangers games. This isn’t Sho’s first run-in with the law, he was also given a suspended jail sentence for assaulting a female friend in 2012.

Darvish missed all of last season after having ligament replacement surgery in his right arm during spring training.

Yu Darvish, 29, received a six-year, $56 million contract from the Rangers before the 2012 season.

“I am certain that they will find that I had no involvement in this matter whatsoever”, Darvish said in the statement through his representatives at the Wasserman Media Group.

MLB’s probe into Yu Darvish is one of protocol.

“Our efforts are ongoing, and as such I am not at liberty to go into what they entail”, Teevan wrote in an email to The Japan Times.

Yu Darvish #11 of the Texas Rangers retreives a loose ball before a game against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field on August 5, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. He has a 39-25 record with Texas in his three seasons on the mound. The arrest came after an investigation of more than a year.

MLB, as the Pete Rose and the Black Sox scandals showed, is very serious about matters relating to gambling on baseball.

“The idea that anything is specific to Yu Darvish is untrue”, the source said.