ST. LOUIS — The Chicago Cubs are trying to slow down the meteoric start to Shota Imanaga’s career, recognizing that this isn’t as easy as the Japanese pitcher has made it look. The decision to remove Imanaga from this weekend’s series against the St. Louis Cardinals was calculated and improvised. For now, at least, it’s not a reason to freak out and wonder what’s wrong.
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“This is a proactive move,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Saturday at Busch Stadium, where Friday’s rainout suddenly presented an opportunity to rearrange the pitching staff and give Imanaga a break.
Imanaga’s 0.84 ERA through his first nine starts has drawn magical names out of the record books like Fernando Valenzuela and Juan Marichal. Imanaga’s style and personality have landed him on MLB Network and “The Pat McAfee Show.” Given the history of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry, a sellout crowd on Saturday night, and ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” on deck, an Imanaga start here would have been an event.
Shota Imanaga has dazzled in his first month of MLB action! 💎
The standout southpaw joined us on #MLBCentral to receive his Pitch Hand Award, discuss the unwavering support of the @Cubs faithful and more! pic.twitter.com/NicAhOLjgB
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) May 2, 2024
The cautious message remains consistent from Counsell, who factors in rest and recovery for all his players as he tries to map out a 162-game season. While managing the Milwaukee Brewers, Counsell preferred a six-day routine for his starting pitchers, when possible, rather than the traditional five-day schedule. With Imanaga, the plan will be even more conservative.
As Friday night’s storm wiped out Imanaga’s scheduled outing, Counsell and Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy saw a chance to reset. Imanaga is now lined up for Wednesday in Milwaukee, which would give him 10 days between starts, as the Cubs try to manage his workload and assist with his transition to a new country.
Imanaga, through an interpreter, said he spoke with Counsell “about how it’s going to be a long season. And not just this season. We still got next year and the year after that.”
The early returns on Imanaga’s four-year, $53 million contract have been outstanding. The Cubs are 8-1 in Imanaga’s nine starts, the kind of spectacular effort the team needed to stay afloat while dealing with injuries, inconsistencies and offensive slumps.
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“It’s hard to make decisions now that you think are going to affect two years down the road,” Counsell said. “But you’re always considering that. He is also making a transition to a different league, to a different schedule, to a different travel schedule, to a different culture. You know that puts more on him. If we could just take a small piece and do some things to refill the tank, so to speak, in the long run, it could be beneficial.”
Taking Imanaga out of the equation for longer would be a huge loss for a team that is sinking toward .500. The Cubs dropped to 27-25 with Saturday’s 7-6 loss in St. Louis, where Jameson Taillon (2.58 ERA) pitched into the sixth inning and once again gave his team a chance to win. The offense did most of the damage against the Cardinals in one inning (three runs in the fourth) before a rally in the ninth, keeping the pressure on the bullpen to be almost perfect. When Cubs reliever Mark Leiter Jr. gave up two two-out singles in the eighth inning, it flipped a one-run lead into a two-run deficit.
DONNIE DELIVERS AGAINST THE CUBS! pic.twitter.com/PDYSmTeuO1
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 26, 2024
Making the leap from a competitive, competent team to a high-powered contender that is rolling into October will require more. Imanaga is listed at only 5-foot-10, though he is solidly built and comes with a long track record of durability in Japan. Imanaga also never made more than 25 starts in a season with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Counsell said Imanaga is “tracking towards 170-ish innings,” which would either match or exceed his career high.
“I’m not really feeling tired,” Imanaga said. “I feel like tiredness and stress kind of goes hand in hand. The Cubs organization — being around my teammates and the staff — they really do help lower the stress levels. I’m feeling great.”
Teams will be monitoring to see whether Imanaga’s fastball maintains the same zip throughout the grind of the season. Hitters will get more looks and make adjustments. The summer months could be particularly challenging for a fly-ball pitcher like Imanaga.
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The Cubs have also been ahead of the curve, beginning their scouting book on Imanaga back in 2018. Team officials saw a pitcher who was already making improvements on his own, and the club envisioned ways to maximize his performance. Seiya Suzuki’s acclimation process provided insights into how to make Japanese players feel comfortable. The manager making these decisions is also regarded as progressive and empathetic.
“It’s just thinking about the big picture of the innings puzzle for the entire season for Shota,” Counsell said. “With the thought in mind that hopefully, we’ve got a big number of innings piling up — and that August and September we’re going to need to kind of go — and that he’ll be good through this whole stretch.”
(Photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
Patrick Mooney is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Cubs. He spent eight seasons covering the Cubs across multiple platforms for NBC Sports Chicago/Comcast SportsNet, beginning in 2010. He has been a frequent contributor to MLB Network, Baseball America, MLB.com and the Chicago Sun-Times News Group. Follow Patrick on Twitter @PJ_Mooney
