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Houston • #45 • SP

Tatsuya Imai

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Schedule

Preseason
@
WAS
Sun, Mar 8
L 3-1
vs
STL
Mon, Mar 9
W 10-3
vs
BAL
Tue, Mar 10
W 7-6
@
MIA
Wed, Mar 11
W 4-1
vs
WAS
Thu, Mar 12
L 3-2
@
STL
Fri, Mar 13
6:05 pm
CATV
vs
NYM
Sat, Mar 14
6:05 pm
MLBN
vs
MIA
Sun, Mar 15
1:05 pm
@
PIT
Tue, Mar 17
1:05 pm
@
STL
Wed, Mar 18
1:05 pm
CATV
Full Schedule
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Player Outlook
Tatsuya Imai is looking to become the latest in a growing group of Japanese starting pitchers to successfully make the jump from NPB to MLB. He had an outstanding 2025 season for the Saitama Seibu Lions, with career bests in both ERA (1.92) and WHIP (0.89). NPB is in a dead-ball era right now, with league-wide ERA dropping to 3.01 last year, so those figures are a little less dominant than they may seem, but they came with career bests in both K% (27.8%) and BB% (7.0%). That latter is particularly notable, as Imai struggled significantly with control early in his career and had never previously produced a BB% better than 9.8%. Imai is undersized at 5-foot-11, but he has decent fastball velocity (94.8 mph), a five-pitch mix and a deceptive, low-slot delivery. If the command gains stick around, he should be able to get big-league hitters out, though don't expect dominance on the same level as Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had three straight seasons with an ERA south of 1.70 before making the leap.

Fantasy News

  • Astros' Tatsuya Imai: Efficient in spring debut

    Rotowire
    Imai started Thursday's Grapefruit League matchup against the Mets, allowing one hit in a scoreless inning. Imai would face the minimum in his spring debut, ultimately needing just 10 pitches to get out of the frame. After giving up an infield single to Marcus Semien, the right-hander coaxed a pop-up off the bat of Mike Tauchman before getting Bo Bichette to ground into a double play. The 27-year-old Imai is expected to play a big part in an Astros rotation that lost Framber Valdez in free agency. Imai signed a three-year deal with Houston after posting a stellar 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts across 163.2 innings in 2025 with the NPB's Seibu Lions.
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