2025 Fantasy Baseball: Shota Imanaga Profile, Preview, Predictions
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The jump from Japan to the majors was an easy transition for Shota Imanaga in his first year with the Cubs. He pitched well of the gate in 2024, but he did battle home runs as the summer moved on.
2024 PitchingNinja "Most Expressive Pitcher" Award. 🏆
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) November 8, 2024
Winner: Shōta Imanaga pic.twitter.com/TBV7CbEc5E
SP – Shota Imanaga, CHC (ADP – 75.4)
Other than a blemish in 2018 (9-13 with a 4.68 ERA and 157 strikeouts over 140.1 innings), Imanaga has had an outstanding career in Japan over eight seasons. He went 74-55 with a 2.96 ERA, 2.96, 1.076 WHIP, and 1,183 strikeouts over 1,129.2 innings. His walk rate (2.4) and strikeout rate (9.4) were areas of strength. In January last season, the Cubs signed Imanaga to a four-year $53 million deal.
Imanaga kicked in the fantasy door over his first nine starts in 2024 (5-0 with a 0.84 ERA, 0.913 WHIP, and 58 strikeouts over 53.2 innings). He gave back some of his gains in two disaster starts (17 runs, 21 baserunners, and five home runs over 7.1 innings) over his following five appearances. His left arm rebounded over his final 14 appearances (8-1 with a 2.75 ERA, 0.940 WHIP, and 90 strikeouts over 88.1 innings) despite allowing 17 home runs (1.7 per nine innings). Imanaga gave up more than four runs once over the final three months.
His average fastball (92.0) was below the league average. He threw his four-seamer (.229 BAA) and split-finger fastball (.198 BAA) a combined 82.5% of the time while mixing in five other show-me pitches. Imanaga featured his slider (.238 BAA) as his second option vs. left-handed batters.
Fantasy Outlook: When comparing his rookie success with his resume in Japan, Imanaga did almost everything the same. He walked fewer batters with the Cubs while serving up the most long balls of his career. His approach to batters led to a high fly-ball rate (45.5), and many pulled balls (45.0%). Battles with home runs can lead to disaster innings and less confidence in command. These two aspects of his game could regress significantly in 2025, leading to Imanaga becoming a bad fantasy investment based on his price. Based on his FPGscore (4.89) in 2024, he was the sixth-best starting pitcher.
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With 20+ years of experience in the high-stakes fantasy market, I aim to research and compete at the highest level in baseball and football each season. I've contributed as a writer/analyst for Sports Draft Daily, ScoutPro, Scout Fantasy, Fulltime Fantasy, FFToolbox, and Sports Illustrated Fantasy. I'm honored to be in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship Hall of Fame. My drafting philosophy is risk-averse yet open to betting on potential game-changers. I approach player selection with a neutral perspective, acknowledging that fantasy sports are inherently unpredictable due to injuries, performance dips, and managerial decisions. My work focuses on these main areas: - Season-long fantasy baseball and football - BestBall Baseball and Football Events - Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS): DraftKings, FanDuel, and Underdog - Long Shot Player Prop Parlays for NFL I participate in various leagues and contests, including NFBC, NFFC, RTSports, FFPC, DraftKings, Underdog Fantasy, FanDuel, and FFWC, with the goal of leveraging my extensive experience and research for success in each game format. A fantasy follower can expect in-depth profiles of NFL and MLB players, along with season-long and weekly projections for each fantasy football season. In addition, I have many strategy articles to help develop fantasy players' learning curves.
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