The space for negotiations remained open. It was Thursday afternoon when the deadline for Shota Imanaga to agree to a contract with a Major League organization expired; although with the Chicago Cubs on the table, rival offers no longer look attractive. Without further ado, the native of Japan packs his bags for the “Windy City.”
After eight successful seasons in the Japanese League, the left-handed pitcher travels west with the guarantees of 53 million dollars for four years, an agreement that could extend up to six seasons and increase to 80 million in case he the team exercises an option at the end of 2025 or 2026, according to Bob Nightengale.
Shota Imanaga passes his physical and his 4-year, $53 million contract with the Cubs becomes official. It can be worth $80 million over 5 years if Cubs pick up an option after 2025 or 2026. A press conference is tentatively scheduled Friday to coincide with their Cubs convention
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) January 11, 2024
Imanaga’s career at the local level is summarized as dominant, as he faces the challenge of being a major leaguer after registering a 3.18 ERA and 1.12 WHIP during his time in the highest circuit of Japanese baseball. Additionally, he managed to maintain standards by striking out 29.2 percent of his batters faced in 2023.
Quality
A quality in its favor is navigating through multiple entries, knowing that in the NPB (acronym for the Nippon Professional League) it obtained a frequency of 6.1 episodes of action. This, coupled with the characteristics of his repertoire, could conspire to give him prominence in a stage where the starting arms lack durability.
The 30-year-old left-hander has an offer of six pitches with which he combines quantity and quality. Even though his four-seam fastball – his main pitch – is limited to 91-92 miles per hour, he manages to command it and made 28.6 percent of his hits with it over the last year.
It mixes with secondaries such as the slider and splitter, the first being a deceptive delivery since it begins in the strike zone to finish in the lower part and outside, while the second has a route similar to the fastball until reaching the plate. sinks, wreaking havoc to a point where the offense barely batted him .212.
To a lesser extent, he uses the curve with which he can reach the pentagon and start the counts, following his fastball movement options to attack the edges such as the sinker and cutter.
PitchingUsage %Strikeouts %AVG Straight51 %28.6 %.222Slider16 %36.6 %.230Splitter15 %35 %.212Curve8 %22.2 %.217Sinker6 %17.6 %.320Cutter4 %16.7 %.417Statistics for Shota Imanaga’s releases in 2023.
Advantage and challenge
Imanaga heads to the majors with a huge advantage in control, charging at a lifetime rate of 6.9 percent of his contests ending in a walk. This is projectable to any league, added to the expectation that his team remains in tune.
Now, he will face the challenge of struggling with the lack of speed in his most used delivery. Even though he stands out for having control and striking out, the lack of power in his fastball leaves him in a bad position against the ‘Big Ten’ offense.
Of course, he is destined to make an impact because of how annoying his secondary weapons are and the stamina to go deep in games.
Domingo Tavarez (@domingotavarez_) contributed to this work.
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2024-01-11 03:24:47
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