Why Shōta Imanaga might be a significant take for the Cubs

Two months ago, the Chicago Cubs stunned the baseball world with a supervisory switch-a-roo for the ages. In a one-day accuracy strike, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer fired four-year skipper David Ross and employed the wishedfor Craig Counsell, previously of the Milwaukee Brewers, for a record-breaking amount of cash.

The relocation divided the baseball world, sendingout Milwaukee baseball fans into an reasonable fury and breaking the monetary ceiling for baseball supervisors. Perhaps most significantly, the Ross for Counsell swap signified a brand-new age in Cubs baseball. Chicago was done playing around; it was, when onceagain, time to complete on the North Side.

But because then, the Cubbies had stayed quiet. Until Tuesday.

Multiple outlets reported that the Cubs have reached an contract with free-agent hurler Shōta Imanaga. The 30-year-old left-hander hasactually been one of the most dominant pitchers in Japan over the past half-decade and is forecasted by most of the market as a mid-rotation alternative in the bigs.

The exact terms of his agreement information are uncertain, with both The Athletic and the New York Post reporting that the offer is “complicated” and consistsof a number of escalators that might take Imanaga’s profits up to around $80 million dollars. MLB.com reported that the base income is set to fall in the $15 million variety eachyear.

This winterseason, Imanaga was naturally eclipsed by 2 of his fellowcitizens, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who each gotten historical, record-breaking megadeals. But there was supposedly severe league-wide interest in Imanaga, who appeared poised to blast through the four-year, $60 million agreement variety most outlets forecasted for him at the start of complimentary company. 

Bidding had heated up enough that the newest forecasts had him possibly making $100 million. That makes his real offer with the Cubs appearance like a relative take.

Imanaga’s surfacearea level NPB numbers and age made him a significantly less preferable piece than Yamamoto, who, at age 25, had won 3 successive Sawamura Awards (NPB’s Cy Young comparable). But Imanaga is no slouch; he has a 2.79 ERA over 630 innings because 2019 and led all NPB pitchers, consistingof Yamamoto, in strikeouts last season. And while he doesnothave the raw athleticism and fastball speed of his World Baseball Classic colleague, there are factors to think Imanaga needsto have a substantial and instant effect for the Cubs.

His pitch information, from both his time in NPB and the 2023 WBC provides important insight into how precisely Imanaga will go about his craft in 2024 and beyond. 

Let’s start with Imanaga’s four-seam fastball, which doesnothave high-end speed, however has some of the most luring motion attributes we’ve ever seen. In 2023, Imanaga’s heatingsystem sat in the 92-93 variety, however he still tossed it a tremendous 54% of the time, which would put him in the leading 10 in MLB in terms of four-seam use. Experts task that pitch to be extremely efficient, inspiteof its relative absence of speed, duetothefactthat of an outstanding quantity of trip. 

According to information supplied by Marquee’s Lance Brozdowski, Imanaga’s four-seam fastball averages around 20 inches of vertical break, which would make it one of the most “on aircraft” heatingsystems in all of MLB right away. Only Félix Bautista and Colin Poche (both reducers) had a muchbetter vertical break than Imanaga in2023 Add to that Imanaga’s brief stature and low release point — he’s noted at 5-foot-10, however the ball comes out 5 feet, 5 inches above the ground — and the pitch has a opportunity to provide big-league players fits if he can find it at and above the leading of the strike zone. 

Very coupleof left-handed pitchers function a fastball with that type of motion profile from that type of release point. The individuality of his fastball makes Imanaga an interesting possibility amongst the more analytically-inclined pitching critics around the videogame. 

The sweeper likewise grades out exceptionally well from a pitch-shape pointofview, so anticipate the Cubs to up its use this season. Like most Japanese pitchers, Imanaga likewise tosses a splitter. It’s not rather as nasty as Yamamoto’s, however thinkingabout the relative rarity of splitters in the huge leagues right now, Imanaga’s oughtto be a durable 3rd pitch. The southpaw likewise has a cutter, a curve and a sinker, however it’s mostlikely the Cubs trim down his toolbox a bit.

Sure, there are locations for issue — Imanaga was quite homer-prone in Japan, he hasn’t tossed over 148 innings in a season because 2019, he might battle to change to the less-tacky MLB ball — however extremely coupleof pitchers can deal the kind of K/BB numbers (174/24) that Imanaga can. 

He’ll slot into a strong Cubs rotation that currently includes fifth-place Cy Young finisher Justin Steele, appealing child Jordan Wicks and trusted veteran righties Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon. Chicago likewise anticipates Cade Horton, one of the leading pitching potentialcustomers in baseball, to contribute this season. It’s not the finest rotation in baseball, however if Steele repeats his stunning ‘23, Imanaga strikes the ground running and Wicks takes a action forward, it’s a powerful group that must put the Cubs in a strong area to contest for an NL Central title.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball author for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, badly at veryfirst, then really well, really quickly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and trips his bike, often at the exactsame time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.