In the entire 100+ years of baseball history, few pitchers have made an immediate impact as big as Shota Imanaga. The pitching philosopher has been nothing short of extraordinary and with each passing day, he’s making it seem like the Chicago Cubs got a bargain deal for him. Few expected such an immediate rise (Even Imanaga himself is shocked). However, now that he has arrived – what more does Imanaga need to do? Or more precisely, what more does he want to do?

When Imanaga first arrived in the United States, a chatter surrounded him. Most talks referred to the wide variety of pitches that he regularly deployed in the NPB. However, at 30, fans wondered whether he’d be refining those pitches into a few useful ones. Additionally, Imanaga has predominantly used a splitter-fastball-changeup combo in the Cubs till now. So it’s quite interesting to understand what Imanaga’s next step could be.

When the NFL player and hugely popular analyst Pat McAfee asked Shota Imanaga about his success in the Major Leagues, he had this to say. “If I’m being honest, I’m pretty surprised of the results I’ve had so far,” Imanaga said. However, the interesting moment came later when McAfee asked him about his arsenal.

Even though with a 0.84 ERA Imanaga is dominating hitters, if a situation arises does Imanaga have anything else in his arsenal? “I still have a couple pitchers that I haven’t thrown yet. But when a situation does come up when I need them then I can pull them out,” Imanaga revealed. The answer excited McAfee, who immediately told Imanaga that he liked it. 

One can imagine that McAfee echoed the reaction of the entire baseball fanbase. Ever since his debut, Imanaga has been winning everyone’s hearts due to his funny quips and extraordinary pitches. More importantly, baseball might have its new player-interpreter bromance.

Shota Imanaga’s growing popularity signals the birth of another Japanese Superstar 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto overshadowed Shota Imanaga’s MLB arrival but the situation has been different since then. Gradually the Chicago Cubs ace saw himself winning over the entire baseball world. However, amidst his great on-field performances, Imanaga’s interaction with his interpreter has stolen the show as well. They’ve been so fun together that even McAfee noted their inherent chemistry and the perfect translation being done by him.

Amidst the Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara scandal, Edwin Stanberry was asked about his experience. The interpreter shared that it’s all new for him too. “This is my first year and everything’s new to me. I’ve really been getting to know Shota since Spring Training. My job is to make his life easier and I’ve been working on that,” Stanberry said. From Imanaga explaining his love for Tacos to Stanberry to the two joking around, the Cubs might have found an iconic partnership here.