Shota Imanaga impressing Cubs with quick adjustments, execution: 'That'll work'

John Antonoff/For the Sun-Times

MESA, Ariz. – From lefty Shota Imanaga’s vantage point, it hadn’t looked like his fastball had run to it as he tried to manipulate it up and away. But the pitch data said otherwise.

Imanaga's fastball is at its best when it’s perceived to be moving up and in towards right-handed hitters – with what are referred to as “cut-ride” qualities. So, in a bullpen session before his most recent Cactus League start, he prioritized trusting his fastball with that shape to all parts of the strike zone.

“His ability to take feedback and then go execute on it was outstanding,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said this week.

Already this spring, Imanga has shown in multiple ways that he’s capable of, and enthusiastic about, making quick adjustments. He did so with his fastball last week, before his best outing as a Cub. He did so with his slider in a minor-league game Wednesday. And outside of baseball, he was adjusting to a new country, language, setting.

“Just learning about how to mitigate stress,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry, “talking to my teammates, trying not to use my interpreter as much around my teammates so I communicated with them really well, and eating the food here. Really getting adjusted to the environment here has really helped.”

His coaches and teammates have noticed the effort he’s put in.

“He's been awesome,” lefty Jordan Wicks said. “He's really integrated well into the team and done a great job, and it's been a lot of fun to have him around.”

The differences between Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, where Imanaga played for the last eight years, and MLB include the baseball itself, hitters’ approaches, the strike zone.

As Hottovy and the coaching staff worked with Imanaga on taking advantage of his fastball’s characteristics at the top of the strike zone, they put up the strings outlining the zone to help him visualize it.

“That's great,” Hottovy said. “But until you get into a game and you start seeing, ‘I'm executing fastballs at the top of the strike zone for strikes, and then I'm going even just above that to get chase,’ that's when you could sense he's like, ‘OK, now I see how much room I have.”

With his fastball playing at the top of the zone, Imanaga recorded nine strikeouts in 4 ⅓ innings against the A’s last week.

“What was really cool in that game also was to see the A’s try to make an adjustment – they're like, OK, we're not going to hit that,’ and then they swung at every [splitter] he threw,” Hottovy said. “You can't do both off of him.”

Said manager Craig Counsell: "If you watched Shota pitch the last time, there's no reason to tinker with any of that. ... You don't have to do anything different, you don't have to be better. That'll work."

On Wednesday, Imanaga faced the Giant’s High-A team in a minor-league game on the backfields, giving him a controlled environment to build up while the Cubs threw a bullpen game against the A’s.

When a major-league pitcher faces minor-leaguers in spring training, the results of the game mean far less than his personal goals and the shapes of his pitches. But in 5 ⅓ innings, Imanaga struck out 13 of the 22 batters he faced. He built up to 88 pitches.

In the first inning, he gave up a solo homer to the Giant’s 2023 first-round pick, Bryce Eldridge, on a slider, giving Imanaga a focus for the outing.

“Making that adjustment so the quality of the slider’s a lot better towards the end of the game,” Imanaga said of his biggest takeaway.

The next time Imanaga faced Eldridge, he struck out the prospect by getting him to chase a slider low and outside.