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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Brilliant outing goes to waste
Rotowire
Imanaga came away with a no-decision Friday as the Cubs fell 2-0 to the Pirates, striking out nine and walking one over six scoreless, no-hit innings.
The southpaw was dominant, firing 68 strikes on 100 pitches while generating 30 called or swinging strikes, but Chicago's offense couldn't push any runs across against Carmen Mlodzinski. Once Imanaga left the mound, Pittsburgh immediately struck for two runs in the top of the seventh. Imanaga will take a 2.81 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 20:4 K:BB through 16 innings into his next outing, which is set to come on the road next week in Philadelphia.
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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Gets back on track Sunday
Rotowire
Imanaga didn't factor into the decision Sunday against the Guardians, allowing one run on three hits and one walk in five innings. He struck out four.
The left-hander found a rhythm in his second start of the season, considering he was coming off a poor season debut that saw him cough up four runs to Washington. Imanaga fired five shutout frames before coming out for the sixth inning but was pulled after giving up a leadoff double to Steven Kwan, who eventually came around to score. Imanaga sports an 11:3 K:BB over his first 10 frames of 2026, and a favorable home matchup versus the Pirates is on tap for his next start.
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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Cubs-Guardians postponed
Rotowire
Imanaga won't start as scheduled Saturday against the Guardians, as the game was postponed due to rain, Tim Stebbins of MLB.com reports.
The two teams will play a doubleheader Sunday to make up Saturday's game, and Imanaga will take the mound during the nightcap, per Taylor McGregor of Marquee Sports Network. The 32-year-old southpaw will be looking to bounce back from a poor showing in his season debut, during which he allowed four earned runs on six hits and two walks over five innings.
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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Ambushed early in first loss
Rotowire
Imanaga (0-1) took the loss Sunday against the Nationals, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out seven.
The left-hander wasn't sharp to begin his season debut, as he was ambushed by Washington for three runs in the opening frame, but he was at least able to settle in a bit thereafter. Imanaga displayed plenty of swing-and-miss stuff as well, registering an impressive 16 whiffs Sunday. Imanaga will be trying to get back on track in his next scheduled outing, which is set come in Cleveland versus the Guardians next weekend.
With Matthew Boyd named Chicago's Opening Day starter, Imanaga could be the team's No. 3 pitcher behind Cade Horton, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.
Imanaga was seen as an option for the Opening Day assignment, but Chicago will instead turn to Boyd for the third time in his career and first with the Cubs. The team hasn't officially announced its plans behind Boyd, though slotting Horton second and Imanaga third would allow Chicago to go lefty-righty-lefty. If Imanaga is the No. 3 starter, his first appearance of the regular season would be March 29 against the Nationals at Wrigley Field.
Imanaga allowed three hits across two scoreless innings in Tuesday's Cactus League game against the Padres. He struck out one.
Making his spring debut, Imanaga looked sharp as he logged 33 pitches. Most notably, his fastball velocity was 93 mph on average in the contest, which is up from last season's 90.8 mph average, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports. This supports reports coming out of camp about increased velocity for Imanaga. It remains to be seen if this is just a blip for the southpaw in a short start or something he can actually sustain throughout the year. If Imanaga can regularly throw harder, he might be able to improve upon last season's 7.3 K/9, which was down from the 9.0 K/9 he recorded during his 2024 rookie campaign.
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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Better velocity this spring
Rotowire
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Thursday that Imanaga has been throwing harder early this spring, Bruce Levine of 670TheScore.com reports.
Counsell didn't offer specifics on Imanaga's velocity, but he believes the left-hander wasn't throwing as hard last season because a hamstring injury caused his mechanics to get out of whack. After averaging 91.7 mph and earning a plus-4 run value by Baseball Savant with his four-seamer in 2024, Imanaga averaged 90.8 mph and netted a minus-10 run value in 2025. The southpaw accepted a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer this offseason to return to the Cubs for 2026.
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Cubs' Shota Imanaga: Working on pitch mix in camp
Rotowire
Imanaga is working on his pitch repertoire in spring training, including tweaking his sweeper and sinker grips and adding a cutter, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports.
Chicago pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said the goal is to help Imanaga throw his sweeper from his "natural arm slot." With the sinker, they want to find a grip that helps the pitcher maintain velocity. Imanaga is also working to reintroduce a cutter after not throwing the pitch last season. The 32-year-old primarily used his four-seam fastball and splitter in 2025, and after a strong start to the year that resembled his stellar 2024 rookie campaign, he stumbled down the stretch to finish the regular season with a 3.73 ERA. Imanaga will aim to get back on track with his revamped pitch mix, and he makes for an intriguing fantasy option with some bounce-back appeal.
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