NEWSLETTER
How about that for an MLB debut for Shōta Imanaga?
One of the Cubs’ top free agent signings this winter, Imanaga lived up to all of the hype on Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field. He pitched six scoreless innings, racking up nine strikeouts and no walks while allowing only two base hits (neither of which came until the sixth inning). He was helped a tiny bit by the wind blowing in, but he was still absolutely nails throughout.
What worked for Shōta Imanaga today?
The Rockies have been prone to the strikeout in the infancy of the 2024 campaign (8.75 K/9 entering today), but Imanaga’s stuff had them perplexed for much of his outing today. His splitter was atop the list of impressive parts of his stuff on Monday.
Imanaga’s splitter was getting anywhere from 28 to 38 inches of downward lateral break on the afternoon, generating a massive amount of whiffs. Shōta threw the splitter 24 times and drew 15 swings from Rockies hitters, 12 of which were whiffs (Statcast). That’s good for an 80 percent whiff rate on a pitch that he threw nearly a quarter of the time on Monday.
In fact, Colorado managed to put the splitter in play only TWICE on Monday, despite the fact that Imanaga drew a 100 percent zSwing rate on the pitch and a 53 percent swing rate on splitter offerings outside of the zone. If Imanaga can continue to throw that pitch like that, he’ll have a smooth transition to Major League Baseball.
Shōta’s sweeper was also working well today. He threw it 10 times and got a 50 percent whiff rate, throwing it in the strike zone 40 percent of the time. Only one sweeper was put in play by the Rockies, a soft line drive that resulted in an out.
What didn’t work as well for Shōta Imanaga today?
The fastball was Imanaga’s primary look to the Rockies today, with Shōta throwing it 61 percent of the time (56 pitches). Imanaga lived in the strike zone with the four-seamer (68 percent strikes), routinely challenging Rockies hitters with the pitch. They were able to put it in play a bunch and hit it a little harder than he would have liked (eight hard-hit fly balls on that offering), but his splitter and sweeper were so good today that even when Colorado made solid contact on the fastball they weren’t doing the damage they needed.
The secondary pitches were so good that he was able to challenge Colorado hitters with the fastball in the strike zone a bunch today, but he’s going to want to miss a few more bats with that pitch moving forward. The wind blowing in toward third base today at Wrigley helped keep some of those hard-hit fly balls in the park, but as the weather breaks, those will turn into trouble for Shōta.
Early April in Chicago will be kind to Imanaga’s four-seamer, but he’ll have to get that spotted better and work in more splitters and sweepers once the conditions begin to shift.
Regardless, that was a heckuva performance to watch today, and the Cubs’ top signing this winter is off to a solid start.
