Tatsuya Imai

His low three-quarters slot borders on sidearm and creates a unique approach angle to the plate that adds deception and keeps hitters off balance. He throws four pitches, but his primary mix consists of a four-seam fastball, slider and splitter. The four-seamer sits 95-97 mph, touching 98-99 at peak with a flat plane of approach and heavy armside run. His fastball is particularly effective when located in the upper third of the zone and has been successful at generating swings and misses.Imai's best pitch is his slider, which is his primary swing-and-miss weapon. The gyro slider sits 85-87 mph, touching 88-89 with late downshift that creates unique armside movement. The combination of Imai's low arm slot, above-average velocity and late armside break make his slider a unique offering. The splitter is Imai's third pitch, and it features good vertical separation off the fastball. It gets heavy armside run, working as a swing-and-miss pitch against lefthanded hitters. Imai also threw a curveball around 2% of the time in 2025 that featured spin rates in the 2,500-2,600 rpm range and around 8-9 inches of sweep. There's also a real possibility the Astros add a sweeper to his arsenal.

Tatsuya Imai agrees to three-year deal with Astros

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.