{"id":604778,"date":"2026-04-15T02:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604778\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T02:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:51:10","slug":"houston-astros-tatsuya-imai-not-able-to-adjust-to-the-american-lifestyle-interpreter-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/604778\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros\u2019 Tatsuya Imai \u2018not able to adjust to the American lifestyle,\u2019 interpreter says"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 In his first public comments since being sidelined with right arm fatigue, Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai acknowledged he has struggled to adapt to life in the United States \u2014 both on the baseball field and at the dinner table.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not able to adjust to the American lifestyle,\u201d Imai\u2019s interpreter, Shio Enomoto, said. \u201cBaseball and outside of baseball. That\u2019s probably the reason (for his arm fatigue).\u201d<\/p>\n

He made three starts for the Houston Astros before being placed on the injured list. Imaging on Imai\u2019s arm has been \u201cpretty positive,\u201d manager Joe Espada said Tuesday, but it is still unclear when Imai could resume a throwing program.<\/p>\n

Imai, who signed a three-year, $54 million contract this winter, has a 7.27 ERA across his first 8 2\/3 major-league innings. He is one of three Astros starting pitchers on the IL without any timeline for a return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the strength of the arm is still not quite there yet, but it\u2019s coming around. All the tests have come back (with) no issues. Just trying to get that strength back,\u201d Espada said. \u201cOnce the arm strength starts coming back, then we can start talking about him playing catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imai recorded one out in his last start, Friday<\/a> against the Seattle Mariners, after which Imai mentioned the mound at T-Mobile Park \u201cwas really hard\u201d and he struggled to pitch in 64-degree weather, something \u201cnot usual in Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old is the first Japanese player the Astros have ever signed straight from Nippon Professional Baseball, breeding at least some expectation for struggles while he adjusted to a new culture and baseball calendar.<\/p>\n

Throughout spring training, the team allowed Imai to provide feedback on his schedule and dictate how he built himself up. Imai appeared to have no issues, throwing well in three Grapefruit League starts while holding frequent conversations with his teammates in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

During spring, though, Imai did acknowledge some difficulties throwing with major-league baseballs, which are slicker than those used in NPB. Team officials allowed Imai to continue throwing bullpen sessions one day before his starts \u2014 which is peculiar for major-league pitchers, but something Imai said he frequently did in Japan.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday whether he planned to adjust his routine or throwing schedule in the wake of his arm fatigue, Imai replied, \u201cNo, not really,\u201d according to Enomoto. Imai made each of his last two starts on five days of rest, which is common in NPB, where teams deploy a six-man rotation.<\/p>\n

In response to a question of whether the major-league throwing schedule factored into his arm fatigue, Imai instead pointed to problems off the field. Imai mentioned both the travel and different timing for meals. The Astros just completed a three-city, 10-game road trip through Sacramento, Denver and Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, the travel is different from Japan,\u201d Imai said, according to Enomoto. \u201cThe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought it would be the same as in Japan, for example, eating dinner at the hotel. He thinks, even though he\u2019s on the IL right now, he thinks it\u2019s a positive thing to try and adjust and try to become better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 In his first public comments since being sidelined with right arm fatigue, Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,1506,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-604778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-houston-astros","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}