Tatsuya Imai reportedly agrees to deal with Astros on 3-year deal worth up to $63 million
- - Tatsuya Imai reportedly agrees to deal with Astros on 3-year deal worth up to $63 million
Chris Cwik January 1, 2026 at 10:51 PM
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The latest Japanese pitching sensation, Tatsuya Imai, is making the leap to MLB. (Photo by Gene Wang/Getty Images) (Gene Wang - Capture At Media via Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the 2025 World Series behind the arm of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the team's prized free-agent signing in 2024. And Yamamoto had plenty of help along the way, with Roki Sasaki, the Dodgers' prized free-agent singing in 2025, and Shohei Ohtani, whose two-way status is a modern-day cheat code, pitching in quite a bit.
At one point, all three players were stars in Nippon Professional Baseball with the desire to prove their talent could shine in Major League Baseball. Now the Houston Astors are hoping Tatsuya Imai will be the next Japanese pitcher to make that leap. The Astros reportedly agreed to a deal with Imai on Thursday, according to Jon Heyman.
The deal is reportedly for three seasons, and can max out at $63 million, per Chandler Rome of the The Athletic. Imai's contract also reportedly contains opt outs after each season.
The Astros are in agreement with Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai on a three-year contract, source tells @TheAthletic. The deal maxes out at $63 million and contains opt outs after every season.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) January 1, 2026
While it's a shorter deal than expected, Imai will receive the second-highest average-annual salary of any Japanese-born pitcher, with Yamamoto taking the top spot.
The move gives the Astros a potential top-of-the-rotation starter to replace Framber Valdez, who is currently a free agent. The Imai deal doesn't necessarily prevent the Astros from bringing Valdez back, though it could signal Houston is willing to move on from their former ace.
After losing Valdez, the Astros don't have many set rotation spots. Hunter Brown will likely move into the team's No. 1 spot, but there's an argument to be made that Imai is already the team's second-best starting pitcher. That may depend on whether Cristian Javier can regain his form after a down year in 2025.
After that, oft-injured Lance McCullers Jr. slots in next in the team's rotation. The team's lack of depth at the position not only makes the Imai deal necessary for Houston, but essentially ensures he'll open the year as one of the team's top options in the rotation.
Houston is looking to bounce back after missing the playoffs last season despite an 87-75 record.
The 27-year-old Imai comes to MLB after an impressive year with the Seibu Lions in Japan. In 2025, he posted a 1.92 ERA over 163 2/3 innings with the Lions. He registered 178 strikeouts and 45 walks.
While those numbers are impressive, Imai is coming to the majors with less hype than any of the Dodgers' three stars who made the same transition. Given Ohtani's status as a two-way player, comparing him to other players is foolish. But from purely a pitching standpoint, Sasaki and Yamamoto had more impressive track records than Imai when the Dodgers' duo came to the majors.
That, combined with offense being slightly down in NPB, caused Imai to be viewed as a step below some of the top starting pitchers on the free-agent market.
At 27, however, Imai still has the opportunity to get better. As is, the righty boasts strikeout stuff with the ability to limit walks and home runs. And he brings a unique repertoire to the majors. In addition to a fastball and a slider, Imai throws a splitter and a changeup, a rarely used combination. That could give him a leg up early on, when major-league hitters will be learning how to hit against him without fully developed scouting reports.
The typical concerns for a pitcher coming over from NPB apply for Imai, including the different size of the baseball and the increased workload that comes with pitching in an MLB rotation. Imai showed some signs that the latter won't be an issue, as he not only upped his workload his last two years with the Lions but also showed better fastball velocity during that stretch, a sign that the increased workload didn't add too much fatigue to his arm.
Given the success of the Dodgers' trio — as well as pitchers such as the Chicago Cubs' Shota Imanaga and the New York Mets' Kodai Senga — there will be pressure on Imai to perform at a high level immediately.
The Astros believe he's capable of delivering on that promise and were willing to shell out big money to have him on their side.
Source: “AOL Sports”
