MESA, Ariz. — Shota Imanaga is always looking for little ways to improve, even on a back field at the Chicago Cubs’ complex in a minor-league game against the San Francisco Giants’ High-A team.
So when the Giants’ 2023 first-round pick, 6-foot-7 lefty Bryce Eldridge, slugged Imanaga’s slider 441 feet over the right field wall in the first inning Wednesday afternoon, he adjusted the pitch to improve the quality of his slider the rest of the outing.
Imanaga threw 88 pitches in 5 1/3 innings in the more controlled environment of a minor-league game. Jordan Wicks also started a minor-league game on the adjacent field versus the Giants’ Low-A team, tossing 86 pitches in 5 1/3 innings. The Cubs wanted both pitchers to continue to build up their pitch counts and get into the sixth inning, which was easier to ensure against minor leaguers. Teams can keep the pitchers on the field for extra outs, as Imanaga did in the third when he struck out four of the five batters he faced.
Eldridge’s home run was the only run Imanaga allowed, but the adjustments the Japanese lefty continues to make are more important than the numbers he put up against lower-level minor leaguers.
“When you meet him for the first time, that’s just how he is going to be,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He’s curious. It’s stuff that he can process. Sometimes you have to be careful with information in that it can paralyze you so you always have to be careful with when you use it. We use it for players and we give it to players and how it gets digested — Shota’s got the ability to hear it, nah it doesn’t work, throw it out and then keep the stuff that works for him.
“That’s just how his mind works and how his head works and it’s what allows him to adjust pretty quickly.”
There inherently is some risk of a player tinkering too much when trying to make adjustments. Counsell noted how pitching coaches in particular now are always toeing that line because of the overload of data available, requiring them to parse down the information to what is usable for the player and what they believe the player can process.
Imanaga has shown an advanced understanding of how to use what he sees from both bullpen work and hitters’ swings in the game to tweak his pitches’ movement.
“That’s an elite level,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “Coming from a veteran guy, obviously I know he’s like a rookie here, but he’s been pitching for a while. His ability to take feedback and then go execute on it was outstanding.”
After Imanaga’s Cactus League start March 14 against the Oakland A’s, Hottovy was impressed by how he took what they had worked on in his bullpen and implemented it immediately in the game. The Cubs have helped Imanaga with his feel on his fastball while also being able to effectively throw it up and away without losing carry on the pitch. They have talked to Imanaga about trusting that he can throw his fastball with good spin and carry to all top parts of the zone without feeling like he needs to manipulate the baseball to that area.
“A couple games ago he had more of those good carry but had a lot of run to them and last game (against the A’s) he had a lot more true cut ride fastballs and you saw the results that came with it,” Hottovy said of Imanaga’s nine strikeouts in 4 1/3 shutout innings versus Oakland. “That part’s fun for us to help guys understand what they’re seeing with the pitch data and how it’s going to be effective.”
In Japan, pitchers are usually taught to throw either inside or away so if a hitter makes contact it’s more likely to be a single to right field or if they get jammed, it might turn into a single to left field. But because major-league hitters are stronger with longer arms, Imanaga said he has needed to adjust to throwing pitches either lower or higher in the zone to avoid balls in play going for extra bases.
Imanaga will likely make one more spring start and is currently lined up to pitch Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sloan Park should he stay on his six-day schedule. Imanaga said he has not yet been told what game he will make his MLB debut, though if the Cubs don’t make any adjustments to his schedule he would be set up to start the home opener April 1 against the Colorado Rockies.
Imanaga and the Cubs know the learning process, both with hitters and the new ballpark environments he will pitch in for the first time, will be ongoing over the next six months.
“I’m really excited going into the season,” Imanaga said through his interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “I’m going to have my ups and downs, but my teammates are really great and I know they’re going to support me.”
