Meet the Japanese baseball stars making their mark on the Cubs
CHICAGO — Final yr, Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga wowed followers when he took the mound at Wrigley Discipline for Chicago’s dwelling opener earlier than occurring to have a stellar season — Imanaga’s first within the majors.
The pitcher, also called the “Throwing Thinker,” went 15-3 for the Cubs in 2024, racking up 174 strikeouts to go together with a 2.91 ERA. The 31-year-old had beforehand performed professionally in Japan from 2016 to 2023.
Within the States, Imanaga quickly turned a fan favourite not just for how nicely he pitched, but in addition for his charisma, humorousness, and his lengthy, flowing hair.
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“You’re saying I’ve the very best hair?” a laughing Imanaga instructed NBC Information via a translator when requested about his free-flowing locks.
“My teammates, if I’m drying my hair, if I’m combing my hair, they praise me, telling me I’ve stunning hair,” Imanaga mentioned. “However my mother and my buddies are like, it’s most likely time to chop your hair.”
It’s not solely the hair that’s helped Imanaga endear himself to the Wrigley devoted. Throughout his rookie yr, the pitcher selected “Chelsea Dagger” as his walk-up track, a tune extra famously recognized in Chicago because the purpose track for the NHL’s Blackhawks, relationship again nicely over a decade to the hockey workforce’s heyday.
“After I first acquired to the Cubs, I feel quite a lot of the followers had been, ‘Who is that this pitcher?’” Imanaga mentioned. “And so for me, it was actually essential to get acclimated with the workforce, with the followers. What was essential was to choose one thing that each one the Chicago followers love.”
Imanaga’s countryman, outfielder Seiya Suzuki, employs an identical ethos when requested about his favourite ballpark meals, saying he must go along with sizzling canine, “particularly” contemplating the workforce he performs for.
Suzuki joined the Cubs in 2022 after a nine-year profession in Japan, and he and Imanaga have since performed key roles in serving to flip across the workforce’s fortunes. After back-to-back dropping seasons, Chicago posted two successful data in every of the final two years.
Suzuki and Imanaga have grow to be world stars within the course of and are a part of a rising Japanese presence in Main League Baseball. In April, the Cubs opened the season in Tokyo in opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who function three Japanese-born gamers in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.
“After I was youthful, I watched baseball within the U.S., and I believed it was actually cool,” Suzuki mentioned. “So if once I’m taking part in and the followers in Japan, even when it’s one additional particular person will get to look at, and so they need to come to the U.S. to take pleasure in baseball or one thing like that, I feel that’d be nice.”
Whereas each Suzuki and Imanaga have pushed the best buttons with their dwelling followers, Chicago’s present goal is to get Imanaga again on the mound. He hasn’t began a sport since Could 4, when he left a begin in opposition to the Brewers with a hamstring damage.
The Cubs positioned Imanaga, whose jersey is the workforce’s hottest this season, on the 15-day injured listing the following day. He’s at the moment progressing towards a return in early June, ramping up his rehab with some bullpen work.
Chicago is at the moment first within the NL Central.