Imanaga made all the right adjustments to excel in Majors

TOKYO ¨C Shortly after Shota Imanaga arrived at Spring Training a year ago, Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy wanted to look at some video with the pitcher. It was time to revisit the home run that Imanaga surrendered to Team USA¡¯s Trea Turner in the ¡®23 World Baseball Classic.

In the second inning of the gold medal game for Japan, Imanaga fired a 2-1 cutter that dove inside on Turner. The shortstop connected with the pitch and sent it rocketing into the left-field seats for a home run that electrified the crowd.

¡°That was on a cutter,¡± Hottovy said, ¡°so it was easier to sell him on the idea that we were going to give the cutter a little backseat right now.¡±

Hottovy wanted to give Imanaga visual evidence ¨C beyond just pitch data ¨C to support the project they were going to tackle in the lefty¡¯s first build-up to a Major League season. What worked for Imanaga in Nippon Professional Baseball was not going to necessarily net the same results against the best hitters in the world.

Before throwing a pitch in the big leagues, Imanaga had to alter his approach.

As they continued to work through that World Baseball Classic appearance, Hottovy also showed Imanaga some successful pitches up in the zone. Even if they were missed locations in the moment for Imanaga ¨C who excelled with a more ¡°east-west¡± style in Japan ¨C it showed how MLB batters were susceptible to fastballs in the upper quadrants.

The idea was to convince Imanaga that he needed to focus his fastball at the top of the zone, which would play better against MLB hitters and allow his splitter to work better at the bottom. If the pitcher could successfully embrace and execute this approach, he would not need to utilize his entire seven-pitch arsenal the way he did in Japan.

¡°I think it¡¯d be extremely difficult for me,¡± Cubs lefty Justin Steele said, ¡°to go somewhere new and for them to tell me, ¡®Hey, how you were pitching? We¡¯ve got to completely change that.¡¯ It¡¯s kind of hats off to him. It¡¯s really impressive.¡±

The next step for Imanaga was learning how to attack the upper edges of the zone.

During Imanaga¡¯s early bullpen sessions in Spring Training, the Cubs set up strings to simulate a strike zone. The left-hander would work on firing his fastballs in the top layer, but Hottovy kept pushing him further. Imanaga would dot pitches higher. Hottovy would emphasize he needed to keep going.

¡°I¡¯m like, ¡®You¡¯ve still got more room. You¡¯ve still got more room,¡± Hottovy said. ¡°He started climbing and he goes, ¡®Those are still strikes?¡¯ Yes, they are strikes. And we showed him video, and showed him games of guys throwing fastballs for strikes at the top. And we showed him all the numbers. He¡¯s a smart guy.¡±

The second phase for Imanaga was narrowing his pitch repertoire down to mostly his four-seamer, splitter and sweeping slider. The lefty could pocket the changeup, curveball, sinker and cutter ¨C only deploying them when it made sense.

¡°He had plenty of weapons,¡± Hottovy said. ¡°But we were like, ¡®Look, we are going to make sure we can establish those three pitches, make them the best versions of themselves. And then when we need to, we¡¯ll add the sinker, we¡¯ll add the cutter, we¡¯ll add the changeup when the time arises.¡±

The most component in all of this was the Cubs had buy-in from Imanaga.

¡°From the outside, people tell me that the adjustments I¡¯m making are great,¡± Imanaga said via his interpreter, Edwin Stanberry. ¡°But I think people don¡¯t realize there are tough moments where there¡¯s difficult situations. But I think it¡¯s thanks to great pitching coaches with great advice, a great manager who talks to me often, and teammates who always support me.

¡°Without them, those adjustments would be very hard to make.¡±

Imanaga certainly made it look easy in his brilliant rookie campaign.

Over 29 starts, Imanaga went 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA, piling up 174 strikeouts against 28 walks in 173 1/3 innings. He established a rookie record with a 0.84 ERA through his first nine career starts, made the National League All-Star team, placed fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting and finished fifth for the NL Cy Young Award.

Hottovy pointed to Imanaga¡¯s outing against the Dodgers on April 7 ¨C the lefty¡¯s second start of the year ¨C as a moment where all the work in Spring Training came together. Imanaga breezed through four shutout innings against L.A.¡¯s potent lineup before a storm washed away his chance to keep working.

¡°He cruised,¡± Hottovy said. ¡°And then the rain hit. That was the first one that I felt like you could see his confidence get bigger.¡±

In the weeks leading up to Imanaga¡¯s Opening Day start against the Dodgers on Tuesday night in the Tokyo Series, his work has been focused on fine-tuning. He has been developing a slider variation, while also playing around with ways to create different angles on his pitches.

One thing Imanaga has shown is a willingness and ability to adapt and thrive.