Shota Imanaga
Breakdown
Rendimiento
NovedadesDe la mano de
De la mano de
25 de febrero de 2026
Velocity up in spring debut
Imanaga allowed three hits across two scoreless innings in Tuesday's Cactus League game against the Padres. He struck out one.
Análisis
Making his spring debut, Imanaga looked sharp as he logged 33 pitches. Most notably, his fastball velocity was 93 mph on average in the contest, which is up from last season's 90.8 mph average, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports. This supports reports coming out of camp about increased velocity for Imanaga. It remains to be seen if this is just a blip for the southpaw in a short start or something he can actually sustain throughout the year. If Imanaga can regularly throw harder, he might be able to improve upon last season's 7.3 K/9, which was down from the 9.0 K/9 he recorded during his 2024 rookie campaign.
19 de febrero de 2026
Better velocity this spring
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Thursday that Imanaga has been throwing harder early this spring, Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com reports.
Análisis
Counsell didn't offer specifics on Imanaga's velocity, but he believes the left-hander wasn't throwing as hard last season because a hamstring injury caused his mechanics to get out of whack. After averaging 91.7 mph and earning a plus-4 run value by Baseball Savant with his four-seamer in 2024, Imanaga averaged 90.8 mph and netted a minus-10 run value in 2025. The southpaw accepted a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer this offseason to return to the Cubs for 2026.
