After a tough second half, Shota Imanaga is flashing his ace potential this spring, striking out batters and showcasing increased velocity.
The Chicago Cubs are gearing up for the regular season.
The Cubs will play their first regular season game just eight days from now. Matthew Boyd will be tabbed with the ball on Opening Day against a Washington Nationals team that will be starting Cade Cavalli.
With the regular season just about a week away, it’s important for several players to finish Spring Training on a high note. Building momentum heading into the 2026 season could go a long way for these players.
One player who appears to be trending up entering the regular season is Shota Imanaga.
Imanaga is coming off a brutal second half in which he was one of the worst-qualified starting pitchers after the All-Star break. He had a 5.17 ERA and allowed 20 home runs over his final 12 starts.
The Cubs couldn’t even go to him in a win-or-go-home playoff game against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Divisional Series. Imanaga gave up six earned runs across 6 ⅔ innings in his first two postseason appearances.
However, Imanaga has looked like his rookie-year form recently this spring. His fastball looks sharp, his splitter is getting swings and misses, and the southpaw just put together his best Spring Training start.
In Tuesday’s start against the Los Angeles Angels, Imanaga threw 4 ⅓ innings of one-run ball with one hit, one walk, and eight strikeouts.
Although Imanaga gave up a home run in the top of the fifth inning, the Cubs starter had his stuff working well on the mound. He induced 25 whiffs, and the velocity on all five of his pitches was up across the board.
Imanaga’s fastball averaged 92.2 mph, up 1.4 mph from the 2025 season (90.8 mph). His sweeper (82.8 mph), sinker (89.7 mph), and curveball (75.5 mph) also saw clear velocity bumps in Tuesday’s spring start.
It is a good sign that Imanaga’s fastball velocity is up from last year. His velocity was noticeably down late in the 2025 season, which could have been a large reason why the left-hander’s numbers were poor in the second half.
There is a lot of pressure on Imanaga to perform after last year’s struggles. He is only playing on the qualifying offer this season, and Justin Steele will eventually return to the rotation in May/June.
But Imanaga has the tools to return to his 2024 form this season. That was shown in Tuesday’s Spring Training start, as he struck out eight batters and had a 56% whiff rate across the Angels’ 45 swings.
