Cubs Superstar Shota Imanaga Speaks on Injury Suffered by Justin Steele

After an injury to Justin Steele, another starter Shota Imanaga got the chance to step up in his place, but the performance that followed was less than optimal.

Apr 9, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga (18) pitches during the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Wrigley Field. | Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images

The Chicago Cubs are off to a good start in 2025, standing at the top of the National League Central with a 9-6 record. Their offensive production has been a thing of beauty and has been all anyone can talk about regarding the team, for good reason. Their pitching has suffered a few setbacks, but all-in-all remained relatively intact until this week.

Starting pitcher Justin Steele suffered an injury to his elbow, elbow tendinitis specifically, and was be placed on the 15-day Injured List retroactive to Tuesday.

Shota Imanaga took the ball for the Wednesday matchup with the Texas Rangers and unfortunately had a pretty tough outing, as in 5.0 innings pitched he gave up five earned runs on seven hits, with one walk and four strikeouts.

After the game, Imanaga talked about Steele's injury in an interview the Marquee Sports and about what it means to have quality pitchers behind him, both starters and relievers, via his interpreter Edwin Stanberry:

"Yeah so we have a good starting rotation, great pitchers, and when somebody does not have a good game, somebody else can cover," he said. "Like today, I didn't have a great game, somebody else is gonna cover me, and if somebody else doesn't have one, then I can cover for them."

It is unfortunate to be down another player so early into the season, especially one of Steele's caliber. In four starts this season he has a 4.76 ERA, 1.147 WHIP, 21 strikeouts to five walks, but also a league leading five home runs allowed.

It has not been a great start to the year for the fifth-year starter, but he has shown to be a quality performer for the past few seasons, and no doubt will look to return to that form in the coming weeks.

This injury setback leaves a gap in the rotation for the Cubs, as they now need to figure out whether they want to move Colin Rea into a starting or opening role, or if they want to dip into their Triple-A pipeline and find someone else to allow Rea to remain in the bullpen.

With only four starters on the roster currently, things are intriguing, to say the least, and with quite a few games coming up, the decision will have to be made rather quickly with a new series starting on Friday.