The Japanese player market is becoming increasingly important in the United States following the resounding success of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Seiya Suzuki. By 2026, a new wave of Asian players is expected to arrive in MLB and there are some big names that are expected to shine in the best baseball league in the world.
Such are the cases of Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto, two long-range hitters who could fit in several Major League franchises. But the one who has been most prominent in the current signing window is pitcher Tatsuya Imai, who has achieved spectacular numbers with the Seibu Lions and has also said he wants to take down the Dodgers.
That combination has put the spotlight on the right-hander, who is available on the market through the posting system used by Japanese clubs to auction off their best players. According to reporter Jeff Passan, Imai is expected to finalize a deal with an MLB team by the end of the Winter Meetings, which will be held next week in Orlando, Florida.
The teams that appear best placed to sign the pitcher are the Giants, Yankees, Mets and Padres, all with specific needs in their starting rotations. Many pundits have seen San Francisco as the favorite in the race, but in recent hours journalist Andrew Baggarly (The New York Times) has claimed that they are not willing to spend what it takes to land Imai.
Imai at the level of Paul Skenes
Tatsuya Imai’s 2025 season in Japan was a real spectacle. The Lions right-hander was the fourth-best ERA (1.92) in the Pacific League, with ten wins, five complete games, three shutouts and 178 strikeouts in 163.2 innings of work. His WHIP was 0.892 and he allowed only six home runs against the 641 batters he faced, for an impressive rate of 0.3 home runs per nine innings of work.
Imai’s dominance is based on a six-pitch arsenal, in which his four-seam fastball, which ranges from 93 to 98 mph, with tops of 99 and 100, plays a big role. But one of the details that has caught the attention of scouts is his ability to throw hitters off balance with very effective secondary pitches.
For example, the right-hander has generated a 46% whiff rate with his slider, and also likes to attack opponents with the splitter, changeup and a variant of the latter known as the “Volcano changeup”
In this regard, MLB specialists praise the Japanese’s tools.:
There aren’t many Major League starters who throw both a changeup and a splitter, let alone three slow variants like Imai
In this regard, the specialist compares Imai’s arsenal to that of Paul Skenes, “the best example” of a pitcher who dominates with three breaking pitches. “Skenes does it with his splitter (also known as ‘splinker’) and a standalone changeup,” Adler added.
This comparison makes Imai a very intriguing piece for the 2026 season, when he will face Major League hitters for the first time.
War declared on the Dodgers
In addition to his numbers and quality, Tatsuya Imai has generated a lot of noise this winter for his explosive statements against the Dodgers. In an interview with Daisuke Matsuzaka for TV Asahi, the pitcher did not hide his preferences and, with respect to the current champions, was direct.
“I want to beat them. Playing with Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki and others of course sounds fun, but I think beating a team like that and becoming world champion would be the most valuable thing that has happened to me in my life”, said Imai.
When Matsuzaka asked who he would like to face in MLB, Imai did not hesitate:
Shohei Ohtani. I’m really looking forward to seeing how far my fastball can go against him
The idea of competing against the best player in the world clearly speaks to his competitive mentality.
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