The Los Angeles Dodgers have formed a conglomerate of Japanese talent. Shohei Ohtani is a three-time MVP. Yoshinobu Yamamoto just won World Series MVP. Roki Sasaki endured a rocky start but still possesses high-end talent.
Tatsuya Imai has no intention of joining them in Los Angeles. He doesn’t want to join the Dodgers’ dynasty.
He wants to destroy it.
“Of course, I’d enjoy playing alongside Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki, but winning against a team like that and becoming a world champion would be the most valuable thing in my life,” Imai told former major-leaguer Daisuke Matsuzaka on the show “Hodo Station.” “If anything, I’d rather take them down.”
That competitive fire should resonate with a certain president of baseball operations.
Back in October, Buster Posey has expressed his disdain of opposing players exchanging pleasantries before games. As a fan, he desires friction. And if Imai signs with the Giants to play opposite of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki on the Dodgers? That’s a recipe for friction.
Imai, 27, will become the latest Japanese ace to jump to the United States. He was posted by the Seibu Lions on Nov. 10, and his negotiating window lasts until Jan. 2. Between now and then, an MLB team will sign him to a long-term, nine-figure contract.
“If there were another Japanese player on the same team, I could just ask them about anything, right? But that’s actually not what I’m looking for,” Imai continued. “In a way, I want to experience that sense of survival. When I come face-to-face with cultural differences, I want to see how I can overcome them on my own — that’s part of what I’m excited about.”
Imai had a shaky start to his career, posting a 4.29 ERA over his first four seasons. His strikeout rates weren’t anything spectacular, but the real concern was a bloated walk rate. From 2022-25, by contrast, Imai posted a 2.21 ERA over 529 2/3 innings with 556 strikeouts.
Last season was Imai’s magnum opus, one where he had a career-best 1.92 ERA and career-best 2.01 FIP over 163 2/3 innings over 178 strikeouts. While his numbers over the last four seasons are impressive, some pundits consider NPB to be in the middle of its own “dead ball era” beginning around ‘22 due to lower league-wide offensive numbers.
The biggest development in Imai’s game has been the limiting of walks. Over the first five years of his career, Imai walked 5.32 batters per nine innings. That dropped to 4.13 in ‘23, 3.63 in ‘24 and a career-best 2.47 in ‘25. Despite those strides, one of the big questions that Imai will have to answer is whether he can sustain that improved command over a longer MLB season.
Imai, standing at 5’11” and about 176 pounds, throws with a low, somewhat unorthodox arm slot that Marquee Sports Network’s Lance Brozdowski estimates is around 20 degrees (Logan Webb’s average arm angle, for comparison, is 22 degrees). His combination of low arm slot and pitch shapes has drawn comparisons to the Seattle Mariners’ Luis Castillo and the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Ryan.
Imai’s four-seam fastball, in particular, has similar movement to that of Ryan, the big difference being velocity. While Ryan had an average fastball velocity of 93.6 mph in 2025, Imai’s heater sits around 95 mph and is capable of touching 98 and 99 mph when he needs extra juice.
Along with the four-seamer, Imai’s secondary mix is headlined by his “reverse slider.” Nearly every slider moves to a pitcher’s “glove side” — think Sergio Romo’s famous no-dot slider that sweeps from right to left. Imai’s slider, by contrast, often moves to his “arm side,” or left to right.
There aren’t many pitchers who throw this type of slider, two examples being the Toronto Blue Jays’ Trey Yesavage and free agent Dauri Moreta. It’s difficult to project how Imai’s “reverse slider” will translate, but Moreta and Yesavage have both found success with these arm-side sliders.
Along with his fastball and slider, Imai’s repertoire also features a splitter, changeup, curveball and sinker (also referred to as a vulcan change). Imai primarily relies on his fastball and slider against right-handed hitters but uses a more diverse pitch mix against left-handed hitters, who have had their share of success against Imai.
Imai doesn’t have the upside of Yamamoto but projects as a better prospect than the Chicago Cubs’ Shota Imanaga and the New York Mets’ Kodai Senga, who both made their MLB debuts at 30. His combination of age, production and profile will land him a deal around six years and $150 million, but it’s possible that Dylan Cease’s seven-year, $210 million pact with the Toronto Blue Jays impacts Imai’s market.
Imai has been linked to the Giants this offseason, so much so that San Francisco is considered the favorites. With Robbie Ray set to become a free agent after 2026, the Giants would be wise to secure a starter beyond next season.
That said, it’s worth wondering whether the Giants would give that much money to a pitcher. When The San Francisco Standard asked Giants chairman Greg Johnson about the possibility of signing a top-tier pitcher, Johnson replied, “I’d say we’re going to be very cautious about those kinds of signings.”
Still, it’s not inconceivable to imagine the Giants making a substantial long-term commitment to Imai. Posey made a trip to Japan during last season, and it’s entirely possible he gathered positive feedback on Imai as a prospect.
With the Blue Jays signing Cease and the San Diego Padres possibly being sold, the Giants could very well be the frontrunners to land Imai’s services. Should that marriage happen, Imai will have plenty of opportunities to take down the likes of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki.