Tatsuya Imai Wants to Deliver First Return on Astros Huge Offseason Investment

The Houston Astros have waited until the fourth game of their season to trot out their biggest offseason addition in the rotation.

Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai. | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Mike Burrows may have had the best spring training of any new Houston Astros starting pitcher. But Tatsuya Imai was the one everyone wanted to talk about. But the Astros have kept everyone waiting until Sunday to start their new import in the regular season.

Imai is expected to start for the Astros on Sunday when they wrap up their four-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. Houston (1-2) beat the Angels, 11-8, with a huge comeback that included scoring 11 unanswered runs.

Imai hopes that Houston has some of that left in the tank for him.

Tatsuya Imai’s Debut

Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai. | Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

The Astros were the surprise winners of the sweepstakes to land the Japanese star after he made himself available through the posting system last offseason. Houston landed him at the last minute, signing him to a three-year contract worth $54 million. The kicker? Each of the first two years of his contract features a player option. In other words, he may only be with Houston for one season, which is worth a $16 million salary and a $2 million signing bonus.

That's why Houston is hoping to get as much out of him as possible as they try to get back to the postseason after missing it a season ago. Before that, Houston had been to the playoffs every year from 2017-24.

Houston was careful with him during spring training. The right-hander made three starts and only threw six innings. But he was highly effective, as he struck out seven and walked one. Batters hit just .105 against them.

On Saturday, he did something unusual for Major League starting pitchers — he threw a full bullpen the day before his start. Most starters throw their last bullpen two days before the start. For Imai that’s his routine and Houston intends to make allowances for it.

He told MLB.com through an interpreter that he’s a bit nervous but hopes to use that as fuel for the debut.

“There’s going to be a lot of fans [in the stands] and [facing] Major League hitters for the first time,” Imai said. “There’s definitely going to be some nervousness, but it’s up to me to use it as a positive, or as an enemy to myself. I just feel like if I can produce the way I did in Japan, it would be fine.”

Imai spent eight seasons in the NPB and went 58-45 with a 3.15 ERA with 907 strikeouts and 468 walks. He was an NPB All-Star in 2024 and 2025.