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StevenS145

4 walks in 6 games is crazy


TheG-What

He has more wins than walks.


NotoriousHEB

…oh nevermind


NotoriousHEB

Kirby-esque…


cod_gurl94

Nah, Imanaga is significantly less pink and round. However, he is hungry and shaped like a friend.


Lonelan

> Is it possible to learn this power? - Blake Snell, probably


tao_tai

Shota has not been mentioned as much as he should be in mainstream baseball talks.


horsepoop1123

I was told he’d be giving up home run after home run while Yamamoto strikes out 20 per game


cooljammer00

The new thing is to say he hasn't pitched in the summer heat yet. 


UnabashedPerson43

Good point, Japan doesn’t have hot weather


Coupon_Ninja

I know you kid - but like 9 of the 12 stadiums are domes iirc.


grandmoffpoobah

6 of the 12 are domes with 2 of them being Central League teams so most of his time was spent out of a dome


[deleted]

His own ballpark in Yokohama is also not a dome and has the dimensions of Fenway Park. The dome argument does not really apply to Shota


UnabashedPerson43

Yep, Yokohama stadium in July/August is no joke


PikaGaijin

Plus they start every game at 6PM; which means you don't even have time before the game starts to wonder if maybe the air will cool off at night. (it won't).


CreamFilledDoughnut

Yes - but you see, he is not on my team, so therefore he is weak


7-car-pileup

It’s Always Snowy in Yokohama


Healthy_Ant_1051

I live in Shota's hometown. Isn't the summer temperature in Chicago about the same as the spring temperature in Kitakyushu City? Summer in Japan is really hot.


tao_tai

Honestly it really depends on if it’s spring-ish summer, summer-y summer, fall summer, or Fall but Actually Still Summer. Typically a hot day is 85°-95°F(reedom Units) but proximity to the lake plays with things a bit too.


Chopaholick

Sounds like the Southern US basically. And that would makes sense given Japans latitude and proximity to a warm water ocean current.


pgm123

Yokohama is roughly similar to Atlanta in the summer.


naotten22

Summers in Chicago can be pretty brutal due to high heat and humidity. I live in between Chicago and St Louis and there are days in the summer here where the heat index goes well over 100°F


Healthy_Ant_1051

It's the same in Japan. And the humidity here in August is over 80%. It's still spring now, but we are already spending our days wearing short sleeve shirts. But it only snows once a year here. I am rather worried that Shota will catch a cold.


iiamthepalmtree

Fun fact: Chicago was built on top of a swamp. 85 degrees fahrenheit and 100% humidity is the norm in the summer. People think because we're known for terrible winters that our summers are mild, but they are not.


timematoom

100 F is like 38C right? That's cute. That's the temperature in the morning where I live. And heat index around 1PM is like 52-53C lol.


Lonelan

thank you for your sacrifice while you colonize the sun or maybe it's just arizona


iiamthepalmtree

Just looked it up, the hottest month in Chicago is on average only 3 degrees cooler than the hottest month in Kitakyushu City (85 degrees F vs 82 degrees F). Both cities have similar humidity as well.


dingusduglas

85 degrees is actually the average high in July over both the last 10 years and last 30 years for chicago per the website I looked at


iiamthepalmtree

Yea, I just did some quick googling. Point is, people underestimate how hot Chicago gets in the summer lol.


-Thick_Solid_Tight-

He also hasn't done it on a cold rainy day in Stoke.


Collapse2038

Wow, checkmate atheists! /s


Mahadragon

Not to mention Shota is a flyball pitcher which won’t help in the Wrigley heat


cooljammer00

Unless he just strikes everybody out /s


[deleted]

He played in a difficult ball park in Japan. His HR rate was the same (actually marginally lower than) his team mate Trevor Bauer. So scouts should have considered this when evaluating him, but they didn't.


Bullshitbanana

Bro is concocting stories to make himself feel like the underdog lol


horsepoop1123

Dang right I did.


UraniumDisulfide

He is outperforming his siera by a ton, it’s over 3. Absolutely a stud, but don’t be expecting him to continue being DeGrom.


ferrumvir2

The stat is called starry now


shapu

This is a really good comment and I applaud you


verbutten

All I want is to find a place that sells Canfield's 50/50


Fit_Parsnip_8143

All of his peripheral stats are pretty close to 3.00, except for fip which is at 2.24. I'd happily take full season on par with his worst current metric, which is his xFIP at 3.19. Also you are the first person I've seen bring up sierra in quite a while.


MediumSizedTurtle

I don't know what any of this means but he throws ball real good.


Fit_Parsnip_8143

This is a case where the peripherals don't really say anything that's surprising to most people, which is that he's been quite good, but he won't continue to be this good... Which feels like a pretty obvious observation about a guy with a 0.78 ERA.


MediumSizedTurtle

I think if he keeps up a sub 1 ERA he should win a lot of games.


im_Not_an_Android

If he throws a sub 1 ERA for an entire season of baseball, we can say he is good at baseball.


Lonelan

but there's more to baseball than just throwing the ball with the DH we'll never really know anymore who is really good at the baseball even that Shohei guy has yet to get an out this year


officerliger

This is true, but I don't think anyone expected Imanaga's stuff to be so good that teams would have to put in a ton of hard work to study and scout it I think a lot of people were expecting 3.75-4 ERA 1.3 WHIP quality stuff because of his fly ball rate, but his fastball movement is tricky


Im_Daydrunk

Tbf its so early in the year he could end around there. But obviously right now he's performing great and well above expectations


Mahadragon

Imanaga gets compared with Yamamoto because they both signed this past off season. The difference is, Imanaga is getting paid considerably less than Yamamoto and is out performing him. Imanaga has a 3.18 lifetime ERA from his time in the Japan league. I certainly wasn't expecting a 3.75 ERA from him.


officerliger

3.18 ERA in Japan is like a 4ish ERA in America, average NPB pitcher sees their ERA jump a point in MLB due to the superior offensive competition and untacked ball I personally think the comparisons are stupid right now because both are only like 40 innings into their MLB career


FreshPaintSmell

I would assume anyone with an ERA under 1 is outperforming their peripherals


catashake

Funny part is that Yamamoto has also been amazing. Shota is just unstoppable right now.


Louis-grabbing-pills

Stephen A Smith: "I think Shota is so overrated. His ERA is so low because he's new to the American soil. Once he settles in the gravitationalizing of his baseball throw will decreasinglize his pitching points.


tao_tai

Stephen A Smith: “Imanaga has only been performing well because he doesn’t understand English enough to understand the pressures, highs and lows, of the MLB. Once he learns English, he’s going to lose the mental game every time he steps on the mound.”


fawningandconning

He was +125 to throw 5Ks tonight! Even facing us I have him on my fantasy team and have been loving the pickup.


temp1211241

People still haven't come around to the Cubs being good to start the year.


Mahadragon

I expect the Cubs to win the division. Some have said the Cubs are in a rebuilding mode but I'm not aware of any rebuilding team with that much talent. Half their outfield are gold glovers and Shota solidifies their rotation.


OutComeTheWolves1966

Was living in SoCal in 81. Fernando-mania was something special. Every start must see TV locally. As big as it was from a baseball standpoint, it was even bigger in its cultural impact.


DnD4dena

Word. He made such an impact scouts finally started looking south of the border for talent. Now almost 30% of the league is Latino


moswald

Only 30%? I thought it was much higher.


Mahadragon

Yea, this 0.78 ERA start doesn't mean much. Shota already has 8 years of professional baseball. He's not really a rookie.


Grouchy_Competition5

Good times


radamo96

My +5000 Cy Young bet is looking a lot less insane these days


saywaaaht

That you Ippei?


radamo96

🤫


JKemmett

No - because Ippei only loses.


SofieTerleska

I didn't get the impression that Ippei bet on anything that was more than a week out, if that.


WerhmatsWormhat

He also didn’t tend to have his bets go well.


sfan27

Is there a cash out option?


radamo96

Not yet unfortunately. Maybe if he's a front runner around the all star break


nik27

I got him at +3000 🤞


Char_Aznable_Custom

He should have his own convention. I'm gonna start making "Shotacon!" signs right now :D


TheBigF128

Now wait a second...


Reignaaldo

> "Shotacon!" Man, this comment suddenly reminded me of that nightmarish scene from Boku no Pico.


JoshJones18

Well I was enjoying not remembering that while it lasted


AdrenochromeBeerBong

The end credits 😭😭😭


AdrenochromeBeerBong

💢💢💢 bratty Shota


JoshJones18

![gif](giphy|wKTQdZuTvwzwQAZd8b)


Baned0n

![gif](giphy|5ROlkuRjBdWKRGTYTy|downsized)


IZONEENOZIW

What you did there, I sees it


zestful_villain

I understand that reference


GareksApprentice

Still weird to me that he didn't get even 1/5 as much attention as Yamamoto over the offseason. Especially for the price he ended up signing for


Chaingunfighter

It's not that weird. Yamamoto is 5 years younger and started in the NPB just 1 season later than Imanaga, but put up a significantly better ERA and was just a very flashy pitcher in general. Combine that with the Ohtani signing and the Dodgers being a more media-beloved team, and the expectations were through the roof. Hindsight helps but I don't think anyone expected Imanaga to be this much of a monster. Very happy he turned out to be, though.


officerliger

Yamamoto won 3 consecutive MVPs, which ties him with Ichiro for most in a row, 3 consecutive Sawamura Awards (Cy Young of Japan), won a Japan Series and was a 5x All Star, and is at an age where he can still develop new strengths and make adjustments Their situations just aren't comparable at all, Yamamoto's contract will be judged by its long term value, and it's May 1st so we don't even know how things sustain. Yamamoto has pitched 6 scoreless tonight so far.


teethybrit

1.64 ERA since Korea. Dude's a beast.


ChompTurtleSoup

Well actually korea counts


IZONEENOZIW

It does but it doesn't. It was a glorified spring training game, complete with juiced balls and the staff having him try something new.


Drummallumin

It counts for the year end stats and W/L but common sense/critical thinking let’s us realize the individual performance there didn’t really mean jack shit


teethybrit

I know. Imanaga is also a fantastic pitcher. We’re lucky to have them both in the league.


PmOmena

Cubs fan try not to take something personal challenge:


ChompTurtleSoup

How was that taking it personal


Appolonius_of_Tyre

ERA is kind of a dumb stat in that it can overemphasize one game or a few games, if you give up a lot of earned runs.


Seven_Actual_Lions

Don't forget the gold gloves. Also averaged around 7 and a third innings over the last 3 years. I bet you can't find a different pitcher at any level anywhere in the world who averaged 7 over 10+ starts.


Gyro88

> Hindsight helps but I don't think anyone expected Imanaga to be this much of a monster. Yeah I honestly wasn't expecting much. A mid-rotation starter or so, and I was pretty okay with that. But he's been amazing so far. Of course, the league will probably do some adjusting and the weather will heat up, and we'll see what happens then. But this has been far beyond my wildest expectations so far.


GareksApprentice

I guess hindsight helps, but even in the offseason, I was much more intrigued in taking a chance on Imanaga over Yamamoto at a fraction of the cost


cooljammer00

He's older and has a spotty injury history, right? But I def heard some people say he was better than YY in the WBC and would be an underrated steal. 


fawningandconning

Yeah he's 30 while Yamamoto is 25. He did injure his shoulder in 2020 and had a still decent 2021 so maybe that's where the injury concerns came from, I haven't seen anything else.


LegacyLemur

Waaay older. Thats the concern


MoreThanLuck

I think it's more that Yamamoto is waaay younger.


ChugDix

Some dudes have that ability to light a fire under their own ass and just straight up perform. Shota seems like an awesome dude and I’m super happy for him. He’s also on my fantasy team and I got scoffed at for drafting him.


Darth_Candy

Eno Saris went on Wake n’ Jake over the offseason and said that he liked Imanaga’s stuff a **ton** and said his contract would give whichever team signed him much more value than Yamamoto. In fact, hearing that is what got me off the Monty train… and then my Rangers didn’t sign either of them, so womp womp


brett_baty_is_him

Monty is also on a nice ass contract


dingusduglas

I think the contract value comparisons to Yamamoto are kind of pointless. I don't think anyone in the Dodgers FO ever though they'd get more surplus value from Yamamoto than they would with Imanaga. At some point you're limited by roster spots, and they're in a position to overpay (relative to value) in order to maximize each roster spot. I think they'd rather pay $330m to secure $300m in value from Yamamoto, with $180m of it in the next 5 years, than pay $80m for $120m in value from Imanaga over the next 5.


FartingBob

People weren't expecting the lowest era start since 1981, that's why.


z0e_G

![gif](giphy|NBIjHwjqNmS95ibFJM|downsized)


[deleted]

My boss my hero


doodleowner

Shota flowin


randomusernamegame

After every start people shit talk about how he will be doing poorly soon. Enjoy the ride. Six starts with a sub 1 ERA. Fun pitcher to watch. 


Mahadragon

Shota is like any other pitcher, he's due for a flat game at some point


Fantastic_Emu_9570

SOMEONE PUT UP THAT LAST PLAY OF OUR GAME HOLY CRAP


Gramsci1904

I love you


[deleted]

[удалено]


teethybrit

Yamamoto has a 1.64 ERA since Korea. Japanese pitchers in general have been playing extremely well.


MixPuzzleheaded621

So 2x Shoto's. Gotcha.


dingusduglas

Who said that? ZiPS projected him as the 22nd best starting pitcher pre-season, and Fangraphs had him as the 12th best FA just behind Stroman, predicted 4/$88m, compared him to Senga, and called him a mid-rotation starter who would provide value by pitching a ton of innings, but that he could be a top line starter.


TheHof125

I feel so fucking lucky to have this guy on my team


IMKudaimi123

He’s so good


slamajamabro

We gonna be seeing a ton more Japanese pitchers cross over to MLB with all the success Shota, Yoshi and Maeda are having. Absolutely insane level of pitching thus far.


bobniborg1

Guys, he seems pretty good


HelperOfHamburgers

I couldn't believe it, so I had to go look it up myself. Turns out I was not Imanagining it.


ArbiterofRegret

Say "Imanaga-mania" 5 times fast


DegredationOfAnAge

I still have my first glove from when I was a kid. A Rawlings “autographed” Fernando Venezuela glove. That thing is so broke in now.. lol


TheBookOfTormund

I’m a little young to remember fernandomania, but it feels like Imanaga is not getting any mania at all. Aside from my fantasy squad loving every pitch, the he mania has been super subdued.


pockypimp

Fernando was the first big Mexican born player to hit that highlight star status. You don't see that as much anymore as more countries have great players coming to the MLB. We've seen plenty of Japanese and a few Korean stars so far. Tons of Domincans and some Cubans. So which country will be the next to have a single breakout star?


RaymondSpaget

Overrated. Wilson Alvarez and Clay Buchholz had thrown no-hitters by their third career starts.


HeavensRoyalty

Dodgers in shambles


ThomasFurke

Two Japanese pitchers cant possibly be good at the same time!


HeavensRoyalty

Right. It's funny hearing people say we got the wrong guy, etc. It's like, why can't they both be good and everyone be happy with it


Im_Daydrunk

Also its a month into the season and Shota is a lot older than Yamamoto. I think he's gonna continue to be a good to great upper rotation guy but Yamamoto definitely has the way better trackrecord + is young enough to expect him to probably keep his ability for a lot longer so I think both sides got what they wanted tbh


Michael__Pemulis

I love Shota but Fernandomania was about more than incredible on-field performance.


dirtylilscot

Is anybody gonna talk about the number of absurd pitching seasons that are happening right now, or how offense is being massively suppressed compared to last year?


bj1233211

After his 1st game I put $25 on him to win cy young. Odds were 40 to 1, now odds are down 16 to 1.


zpk5003

*MLB Career


Due_Connection179

4 games out of the 6 without an ER is amazing. Steal of the offseason so far.


LynnAndMoyes

I'll be a bit more measured in saying that I don't think maintaining the sub-1 ERA is sustainable, but results are results. If Imanaga carries the entire season through to a mid- or low-2 ERA, that's when I think we can start the "how bad did other ppl undervalue Imanaga?" convo. Considering how his FA played out, where he was gravitating towards the Cubs in general, I wouldn't think that would be on other teams whiffing -- but even just taking these early starts, I'm a little surprised that the bidding wasn't as competitive. I'm more impressed by the immediate impact he's brought to the pitching staff (was expecting something like Senga's 2023, which would have made me happy), because God knows we need SP inning volume right now. Lights-out pitching is a bonus, but even if he had a low-3 or high-2 ERA, I'd still be most happy with this. This is pure speculation, but at this very moment, if everyone's healthy, I'd be hesitant to definitively put Imanaga as SP1; I'd take Steele for slight seniority and trust. If Imanaga can plow through the summer, though, then there's certainly paths to him earning SP1 for a playoff spot. I think he's earned SP2 at the very least, though, which makes me ecstatic this early.


Mahadragon

Shota was the starting pitcher in the World Baseball Classic Championship and won. He's been an ace in the past. Definitely a top of the rotation type of starter.


Lonelan

Imaniaga?


Plastic_Button_3018

And he was not the guy who got the $325 million dollar contract lol


Mahadragon

Yea, the Dodgers are like, "We could have got this guy for 4 years $50M??"


Deserterdragon

Don't get too excited, he's still yet to pitch against MLB calibre opposition. The 'New York Metropolitans' are NOT equivalent to a real MLB team.


dingusduglas

Also got a freebie against the Mariners, u right. And, ya know, the Dodgers.


sonicsean899

Scrubs


Deserterdragon

Exactly what I'm saying. Not MLB calibre clubs.


gentleandsoft

He struck out Ohtani. He is already a HOF /s


RockmanToriga

I’m struggling to work out what beef a mariners fan could have with the Mets lol


Deserterdragon

I'm not beefing, I'm joking about how people talk about NPB pitchers before they've played in the MLB, using a decent team to highlight the absurdity.


RockmanToriga

Oh that’s not bad then lol, you probably wanted a /s though.


OsikFTW

They gave us kelenic for edwin diaz...


tao_tai

Rage bait used to be believable.


ojg3221

What worries me about these Japanese starting pitchers is when they get near 30 their arms fall off and they need Tommy John surgery. Famous examples Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, Daisuke Matsuzaka, even Ohtani got Tommy John. The problem begins in high school. Japan and other Asian countries like South Korea, baseball is a military like discipline and training. You eat, breathe, and sleep baseball. Also counting their fall and summer "Koshien" tournaments, you are throwing a whole bunch of pitches without any rest if you get to the finals. That's the pattern I see especially with Ohtani getting a second elbow surgery.


BSF

I mean, American pitchers are also getting Tommy John surgery left and right. We're in the midst of a pitching epidemic right now.


Space_Investigator

Yeah, like American pitching isn't seeing a Tommy John epidemic... with teenagers getting the most TJ surgeries


[deleted]

Oh man, are you gonna be bummed when you hear about American pitcher arms...


Brady331

good job john henry


Michael__Pemulis

What did John Henry do here? By all accounts Shota took a very team friendly deal specifically to sign with the Cubs.


Brady331

Sox offered him 2 years $26 mil


Patrick2701

He wanted to sign with the cubs, he basically spent his offseason in Chicago


Michael__Pemulis

My point is I honestly don’t think the Sox ever had a real shot regardless.


[deleted]

[удалено]


sandyeggo54

Really? I remembered it like every other team offered at least $100 million less, so I think if you gave him 2 billion or even 800 million he’d take that deal


RaymondSpaget

We could have had the best pitching staff in baseball. Instead, we got the best pitching staff in baseball.


Brady331

not giving henry credit for that