Tatsuya Imai

Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai will make his spring debut in Thursday's game against the Mets, according to manager Joe Espada.

Fantasy Impact

Imai signed a three-year, $54 million contract with the Astros this winter after a standout run in his native Japan. The 27-year-old posted a tidy 1.92 ERA across 24 starts with the Saitama Seibu Lions in the 2025 season.

Tatsuya Imai is scheduled to face live hitters for the first time for the Astros Friday according to Brian McTaggart.

Fantasy Impact

Imai is being counted on to replace the loss of left-hander Framber Valdez in a revamped Houston rotation after signing a three-year, $54 million contract in the offseason. The right-hander posted a 1.92 ERA and 0.89 WHIP with the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Baseball League in 2025.

Tatsuya Imai, the highly-coveted free agent righthander from Japan, has agreed to a three-year deal with the Houston Astros as reported by Jon Heyman. The deal, which contains opt-outs every year, is worth $54 million guaranteed and, with inning incentives, could be worth as much as $63 million.

Fantasy Impact

News surrounding Imai, the prized Japanese-born pitcher, was quiet until the last few days and it was the Astros who swooped in and signed the righthander. Imai, 27, went 10-5 with a career-best 1.92 ERA in 163.2 innings with the Saitama Seibu Lions of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, capping off a four-year run of dominance with the Lions. Over the last four seasons, Imai went 35-19 with a 2.13 ERA and 556 strikeouts in 549.1 innings of work. His 27.8% strikeout rate in 2025 was the best in NPB. Imai projects to be either the #2 or #3 starter in Houston, slotting in behind Hunter Brown and, possibly, Cristian Javier.