The Chicago Cubs have reached an agreement with Japanese lefty Shota Imanaga, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Imanaga comes to MLB after eight years in Nippon Professional Baseball league, the world’s second-best circuit. Across those eight seasons, he pitched to a 2.96 ERA with a 3.93 K/BB ratio and more than a strikeout per inning. He did, however, allow a relatively high number of home runs by league standards, which raises concerns about how well he’ll be able to suppress power in the U.S. major leagues.
Coming into the offseason, CBS Sports ranked Imanaga as the No. 42 available free agent. More recently, CBS Sports highlighted what makes Imanaga such an interesting potential mid-rotation starter. Here’s part of that writeup:
Imanaga’s heater has nevertheless remained his primary offering because of the pitch’s innate “rising” action. He’ll be at home in that regard in MLB, with teams flocking in recent years to pitchers who can elevate their fastballs.
When Imanaga wants to change the pace, he usually turns to a low-80s slider that generated almost 40% whiffs last season. For context’s sake, that percentage would have ranked him in the top 10 among left-handed starters who threw at least 100 sliders during the 2023 campaign — and ahead of the likes of Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw, among other accomplished veterans
As part of the posting system that’s in place for Japanese professionals coming to MLB, the Cubs will owe Imanaga’s former club, the Yokohama BayStars, a substantial posting fee.
Imanaga in 2024 will be entering his age-30 season. He’ll be joining an upstart Cubs team that figures to slot him into a rotation that also includes breakout lefty Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, and Jameson Taillon.
