With key starters sidelined, Shota Imanaga is dominating with a lethal splitter and refined arm angle, recapturing his All-Star form to lead a depleted Chicago rotation.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga deserves a lot of credit for the way he’s thrown the ball this year.
With Cade Horton out for the season, Justin Steele suffering a setback in his recovery, and Matthew Boyd set to miss the next six weeks due to a meniscus injury, Imanaga continues to step up at the top of the Cubs’ rotation.
The southpaw currently owns a 2.28 ERA and 53 strikeouts across 47 ⅓ innings pitched. He has delivered a quality start in five of his last six outings and is coming off another dominant performance on the mound.
Imanaga threw six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts against the Cincinnati Reds in Thursday’s win. He generated 22 swings-and-misses and had another 13 called strikes in that game.
Not only has the Imanaga been the best Cubs pitcher in the early going, but he has been one of the top pitchers in the National League to start the 2026 season. The 32-year-old ranks seventh in ERA (2.28), sixth in strikeouts (53), sixth in WHIP (0.93), and fifth in batting average against (.179) among all National League qualified pitchers.
So, what has allowed Imanaga to return to his 2024 form?
The answer is simple: he’s missing bats at a high level again.
Last year, Imanaga ranked in the 84th percentile in chase rate (31.6%), 44th percentile in whiff rate (24.6%), and 34th percentile in strikeout rate (20.6%). The whiff rate on his splitter (32.3%) was also down from his rookie campaign.
This season, those metrics are all up. He currently ranks in the 98th percentile in chase rate (39.9%), 91st percentile in whiff rate (32.8%), and 84th percentile in strikeout rate (28.3%), and his Offspeed Run Value (7) places him in the 100th percentile.
The two biggest differences for Imanaga this year have been the increased use of his splitter and his arm angle returning to where it was during his rookie season.
Imanaga has thrown his splitter 36.2% of the time across his first eight starts, which is up 4.8% from last year. That has resulted in him relying on his four-seam fastball a tad less and getting more swings and misses. His splitter has an impressive 45% whiff rate and a 27.5% putaway rate so far this season.
He has also returned his arm angle to 40°, like it was during his All-Star campaign in 2024. Last year, his arm angle sat at 36°.
Imanaga has really stepped up for the Cubs through the first six weeks. He already has two 10+ strikeout games after having no such games last season, and his offspeed stuff (splitter, sweeper, and curveball) has been a game-changer for him.
He’s finally looking like that same pitcher from his rookie season.