Japan's left-hander ace Imana will challenge ML

Left-hander Imanaga Shota, one of the aces representing Japanese professional baseball, will knock on the door of the U.S. Major League Baseball MLB.

John Heyman of the U.S. media "New York Post" reported on the 12th, "The posting of Imanaga of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, who pitched well against the U.S. at the World Baseball Classic WBC in March, is expected to begin." Imanaga is free to negotiate with 30 major league clubs for 45 days after the start of posting.

Earlier, the Yokohama club decided to finally approve the posting after holding a meeting with Imanaga on the 10th, and on the 11th, the next day, Imanaga officially allowed him to challenge the big league with a posting system closed competitive bidding. Ryudai Hagihara, general manager of Yokohama, personally delivered this information.

Head of Hagihara said, "I'm happy to have a player challenging for the big league in our team, but it's also sad that Imanaga has left. I will be happy to come back someday and play for the team after succeeding in the big league," he said, supporting Imana's challenge.

Imanaga recorded 64 wins, 50 losses and a 3.18 ERA in 1,002 ⅔ innings in 165 games in Japanese professional baseball from 2016 to this year. His performance this season is 7 wins, 4 losses, and 2.80 ERA in 148 innings in 22 games.

Imanaga is one of the pitchers who is also well known to domestic fans, and he pitched in relief against South Korea in the first round of this year's WBC. At the time, Imana pitched well with three hits, no outs, three strikeouts and one run in three innings, while making his presence known with a strong fastball reaching the mid-150km/h range.

Imanaga, who took the mound in the top of the fourth inning following starter Yu Darvish, handled the batting line leading to Park Gun-woo, Kang Baek-ho, and Yang Eui-ji, and was hit by Choi Jung and Lee Jung-hoo in the top of the fifth inning, but Park Byung-ho's fly ball to right field escaped the crisis. Imanaga's only run on the day was a solo shot hit by Park Kun-woo in the top of the sixth inning. In the end, Japan, which did not lose the atmosphere thanks to Imanaga's good pitching in the middle of the game, defeated Korea 13-4. South Korea virtually failed to advance to the second round due to its defeat against Japan.

This was not the end of Imana's performance. In the final match against the U.S., he took the mound as a starter and did his part by allowing four hits one homer in two innings. Even after Imanaga was replaced, the game flowed into a tight pitching match, and eventually Japan won 3-2, lifting the trophy.

Imanaga, who has completed verification not only in his own league but also in international competitions, now looks at a bigger stage. Already in the United States, Imanaga was watching along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Lee Jung-hoo. 사설토토

Major League Baseball's official website, MLB.com , also published an article highlighting Imanaga on the 10th. Yamamoto is not the only Japanese pitcher who can take the big league stage next season, the media said. "I struck out Cedric Mullins and Paul Goldschmidt at WBC, and in particular, I struck out Goldschmidt, a former National League MVP, after three balls."

"Imanaga, like another Japanese star pitcher, Sasaki Rocky, is a pitcher who has experienced a no-hitter in the Japanese professional baseball, and he also uses fastballs, sliders, splitters, and curves in the mid-90s," he said. "Unlike left-handed pitchers in the Major League, it is interesting to use a splitter."

In addition, MLB.COM said, "Both 2022 2.26 and 2023 2.80 left an ERA of less than three runs, and his number of strikeouts per nine innings this year was 10.6. Imanaga gave up 24 walks with 174 strikeouts, with a 7.25 strikeout/walk ratio. "The number of strikeouts per nine innings and the strikeout/ballnet ratio were both the highest since his professional debut," he said, noting his elaborate control.

Imana is expected to be an attractive enough card for teams looking to reinforce their left-handers. Attention is focusing on what choice Imana, who will take on the big league challenge, will make.