It’s been said that if you can’t beat ’em, join em, but Tatsuya Imai would like to try to help a club take down the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In an unforeseen turn of events that bodes well for the New York Yankees‘ chances of signing the prized Japanese-born free-agent pitcher, Imai announced he would not consider joining the two-team reigning World Series champs.
Imai is in the midst of a 45-day signing window to sign with a big-league club after he was posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball League team, the Seibu Lions. He went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA, with five complete games and three shutouts in 163 2/3 innings and won’t turn 28 until May.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman has said he is interested in Imai and has “engaged” with his people.
Tatsuya Imai Wants To Take Down The Dodgers
You’d think Imai, the latest in a long line of dominant Japanese-born righties, would want to follow in the long line of great pitchers to pitch at Chavez Ravine.
After all, the Dodgers were the first to sign Hideo Nomo and Hiroki Kuroda and of course have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani on their roster.
But Imai doesn’t want to simply join the fray.
“Of course, Iâd enjoy playing alongside Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki,” Imai told Daisuke Matsuzaka on his “Hodo Station” podcast, “but winning against a team like that and becoming a world champion would be the most valuable thing in my life. If anything, I’d rather take them down.”
Hearing that must get the juices flowing for Yankees fans who have watched ace after ace join the West Coast teams. New York has not landed a Japanese-posted pitcher since Masahiro Tanaka in the 2013-14 offseason, but it sounds like Imai could be in the cards based on his comments of pitching in what come be an uncomfortable culture.
“If there were another Japanese player on the same team, I could just ask them about anything, right?” Imai said. “But thatâs actually not what Iâm looking for. 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 — thatâs part of what Iâm excited about.â
Tatsuya Imai Is An Ace
The Yankees’ starting pitching is arguably their strongest and deepest spot, but as the old saying goes, you can never have too much of it.
So even though they should get 2024 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole back, and employ two starters that finished in the top-7 in Cy Young voting, the Yankees would be wise to consider Imai, especially with his bulldog mentality and arsenal of pitches.
“Probably my fastball,” Imai said, when asked what his best pitch is. “The key is not aiming low. Iâm always trying to throw it up in the zone — about mask-high for the catcher when he sets up normally.â
But the Yankees, who of course lost in five games to Ohtani and the Dodgers in 2024, are trying to also unseat LA and win the title for the first time since 2009. Imai himself is hoping for the chance to dial up his fastball against the two-time-defending NL MVP and see how his best fares against the face of MLB.
“I really want to see how much my fastball holds up against him — to test myself by throwing it to him,” Imai said.
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