Tatsuya Imai is officially running it back with the Houston Astros, reportedly exercising his $18 million player option to return for 2027. Yep, the same guy who absolutely struggled through his rookie MLB season, posting a 4.93 ERA in just 76 2/3 innings, is locked in for another year, according to reports Thursday. It’s wild because this was after he inked a three-year deal last winter, reportedly worth up to $63 million with $54 million of that guaranteed cash.
A Season Full of Head-Scratchers and a No-Hitter
Honestly, Imai’s first year in the big leagues was a total rollercoaster, and not the fun kind. The dude was a three-time All-Star in Nippon Professional Baseball, showing flashes of that brilliance, like when he threw six spotless innings on May 25, spearheading a combined no-hitter against the Texas Rangers. That’s legit stuff. He even piled up nine punchouts against the Athletics in his second start, a real bounce-back. And get this: in June, he stitched together back-to-back starts with 10-plus Ks, one against the Cleveland Guardians and the next versus the Detroit Tigers.
But man, the bad stuff was *bad*. He got roughed up in his first MLB start right out of the gate. Then he landed on the injured list with arm fatigue, which is never a good sign early on. The Astros eventually demoted him from the starting rotation, and he only made eight appearances over the final two months of the season. The craziest part? He didn’t even pitch in their wild-card losses to the Chicago White Sox. His command issues were brutal, walking six batters per nine innings. You just can’t do that in the bigs. Going forward, he’s gotta improve his pitch location, and maybe even his pitch diversity, if he wants to get back to a bigger role.
The Seattle Mound Blame Game and Lifestyle Hiccups
It’s not just his arm or his command that seemed to be the issue. When Imai was on the IL this spring, he actually confessed he was struggling to adapt to the American lifestyle, both on and off the field. Talk about a culture shock! He even gave an example via an interpreter back in mid-April. “For example, the travel is different from Japan,” Imai said. “The timing when the players eat. In Japan, when they get back to the hotel, they eat their dinner. Here, the players eat at the stadium.” That’s a real adjustment, for sure.
But get this, Mariners fans, because this one hits home. Earlier in the season, after a particularly rough outing at T-Mobile Park, he complained that *our* mound was hard and said he wasn’t used to pitching in cooler temperatures. He seriously said that after he gave up four walks and three runs while recording just *one out* in the Emerald City. One out! Look, he talked about the challenge of adjusting to the mound slope in MLB even before that, but blaming our home turf after that kind of performance? C’mon, man. You gotta earn that complaint.
So, Imai is hoping for a better 2027 with the Astros. He’ll need to figure out these command issues, adapt to the travel, and maybe, just maybe, get used to pitching on *actual* major league mounds, even if they aren’t exactly like the ones back home.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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