Despite a shaky second half, Shota Imanaga embraces a prove-it year, with Cubs leadership confident his talent will resurface.
There were question marks earlier this offseason about whether Shota Imanaga would be back with the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs declined his three-year, $57 million club option earlier last month, and then Imanaga declined a one-year, $15 million player option for the 2026 season. However, the southpaw will return to Chicago on a one-year qualifying offer.
Imanaga accepted a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer from the Cubs last month. That means the 2026 season will be a prove-it year of sorts for the Japanese pitcher. He’ll look to rebound following an abysmal second half of the season.
While his value is certainly down, the Cubs still believe in Imanaga’s potential.
“I’m really excited about Shota,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said at the Winter Meetings. “I think he’s in a really good place. Sometimes, not achieving what we want, or not getting the opportunity we want, or not performing how we want, is the best teacher for us. I think Shota’s gonna take his lessons from last year and be better. So, I’m very optimistic about what we are gonna get from Shota.”
Counsell isn’t the only member of the Cubs’ organization to show excitement about Imanaga's return, as pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian last month that he is “pumped” to have the left-hander back with the team.
There’s no doubt that Imanaga did not have a great second half of the 2025 season. He had a 5.17 ERA and 64 strikeouts across his final 12 starts, and his 20 home runs allowed post-All-Star break were the most among all pitchers in baseball.
Those struggles then continued into the postseason. Imanaga allowed six runs across 6 ⅔ innings pitched (8.10 ERA), and Chicago couldn’t even rely on him to pitch in a win-or-go-home Game 5 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
However, this is a pitcher who has had success in the league before. During his rookie campaign in 2024, Imanaga had a 2.91 ERA and 174 strikeouts across 173 ⅓ innings pitched. Those numbers helped him finish top-5 in both National League Rookie of the Year voting and National League Cy Young voting.
So, Imanaga has the talent to get back to that 2024 version this upcoming year. It’s now up to him to put in the work and be a better version of himself. Time will tell if that will be the case.
However, both Counsell and Hottovy believe that Imanaga can return to form.