South Korea went crazy over the signings of Lee Jung-hoo (San Francisco) and Japan went crazy over the signings of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LA Dodgers). But there was a real monster on the horizon for Rookie of the Year.
Shota Imanaga (Chicago Cubs) started against the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York City on July 2 and pitched seven shutout innings.
He allowed just four hits (three walks, one hit by pitch). All three hits were singles. Instead, it was a complete game with seven strikeouts. The walk he allowed was his third of the season.
The Cubs won the game 1-0, giving Imanaga his fifth “W” of the season. It was his best start of the season and his fourth quality start of the season (6+ innings, 3 earned runs or less).
In April, he went 4-0 with a 0.98 ERA in five starts, totaling 27⅔ innings pitched. While he was overshadowed at the start of the season by Ohtani’s gambling scandal and the 12-year, $325 million Yamamoto deal, 바카라사이트 he is now considered one of the biggest success stories in Japanese baseball.
MLB.com named Imanaga Rookie of the Year, and like his nickname, “The Throwing Philosopher,”
Imanaga has taken his time preparing for his move to the United States. He signed a four-year, $53 million contract with the Cubs last winter.
He got on track with back-to-back quality starts on April 21 against the Miami Marlins (6 innings, 3 runs) and April 26 against the Boston Red Sox (6⅓ innings, 1 run). Imanaga has since lowered his ERA to 0.78. It’s the only sub-zero ERA among all major league starters who have completed a full game so far this season.
He’s not the tallest pitcher at 6-foot-4, but he has a fastball that sits in the upper 90s from his solid frame. He mixes it with a slider, changeup, and an occasional curveball. He also has a lefty advantage, so it’s not unexpected that he could be a big league pitcher.
However, Imanaga’s real weapon is his fastball. At the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), which ended with the coronation of Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers), Imanaga’s fastball averaged over 2500 revolutions per minute. Like Seung-Hwan Oh in his prime, 사설 토토사이트 he has a dominant fastball-to-fastball ratio.
This season, he’s averaging 2412 fastballs per minute. Against the Mets, he was up to 2601. There’s a reason why major league batters are hitting the ball so hard. Compared to Lee Jung-hoo and Yamamoto, he had a clear advantage in the Rookie of the Year race at the beginning of the season.