RADIO
Shota Imanaga is a fantasy baseball draft sleeper prospect pitcher, and an ADP draft value for 2024. Target Imanaga as an undervalued SP in fantasy drafts.
BALLER MOVE: Target in drafts ~pick 195
CURRENT ADP: ~205 overall
ANALYSIS: With Yoshinobu Yamamoto the real headline free agent from Japan, there hasn't been much fanfare around Imanaga. After signing with the Cubs in January, he now seems to be garnering plenty of interest. If we take a look at his arsenal and his numbers in NPB, it's easy to see why.
| Year | G | IP | W | L | ERA | K | BB |
| 2016 | 22 | 135.1 | 8 | 9 | 2.93 | 136 | 38 |
| 2017 | 24 | 148.0 | 11 | 7 | 2.98 | 140 | 52 |
| 2018 | 23 | 84.2 | 4 | 11 | 6.80 | 80 | 38 |
| 2019 | 25 | 170.0 | 13 | 7 | 2.91 | 186 | 56 |
| 2020 | 9 | 53.0 | 5 | 3 | 3.23 | 63 | 17 |
| 2021 | 19 | 120.0 | 5 | 5 | 3.08 | 110 | 26 |
| 2022 | 21 | 143.2 | 11 | 4 | 2.26 | 132 | 29 |
| 2023 | 22 | 148.0 | 7 | 4 | 2.80 | 174 | 24 |
| Career | 165 | 1,002.2 | 64 | 50 | 3.18 | 1021 | 280 |
The lefty throws a fastball that sits around 94-95 mph, a splitter, a slider, and a curveball. Providing they all play as well in the U.S. as they have done in Japan, he shouldn't have issues getting out right-handed hitters. His fastball also has a decent spin rate, averaging ~2,500 RPM. The MLB left-handed starters averaged ~2,200 RPM (credit to David Adler for those numbers).
Shōta Imanaga's 2Ks in the 1st. pic.twitter.com/J5dNniMSIt
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 8, 2024
Imanaga is 30 years old, so he still has a few years ahead of him. He hasn't been heavily worked considering some MLB workloads and there are plenty of positives from the last couple of seasons. His 174 Ks in 148.0 IP this past season certainly stands out. And walking only 24 hitters is equally impressive. With an ADP of ~205, Imanaga is going late enough that even with quite a bit of regression, he can still prove to be a fantasy valuable pitcher.
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