Star Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga to be posted to MLB teams this offseason: report
The Mets have been heavily connected to Japanese ace right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who will be posted this offseason. But Yamamoto is not the only highly thought of pitcher from Japan who will be available.
Left-handed pitcher Shota Imanaga of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars will also be posted this offseason, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network.
The 30-year-old Imanaga is in the midst of a fantastic season for Yokohama, with a 2.70 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and 156 strikeouts in 133.1 innings pitched.
Imanaga’s walk rate is also minuscule — a career-best 1.3 per nine innings.
The Mets are viewed by some as the favorites to land Yamamoto, and it shouldn’t be surprising if they’re also connected to Imanaga as they look to fill out a rotation that will have three vacancies.
GM Billy Eppler has a long history of scouting and signing Japanese players, including Shohei Ohtani (whom Eppler landed when he was with the Los Angeles Angels) and Kodai Senga.
The Yankees, entering an offseason where Luis Severino will hit the open market, could also make sense for Imanaga.
In eight seasons in Japan for NPB, Imanaga has a 3.18 ERA and 1.11 WHIP while averaging 9.4 strikeouts per nine and 2.4 walks per nine.
Those numbers pale in comparison to Yamamoto, who has a career ERA of 1.76 with a 0.92 WHIP.
Yamamoto is also about six years younger than Imanaga.
Still, Imanaga should be in serious demand this offseason as he joins a crop of free agent starting pitchers that is led by Yamamoto and Blake Snell but falls off precipitously after that — with Ohtani’s immediate-and long-term future as a pitcher up in the air due to his torn UCL.
Source: Yahoo Sports
