to a $54 million, three-year contract last week<\/a>, bolstering a rotation searching for reinforcements after ace Framber Valdez became a free agent and appears unlikely to return.<\/p>\n\u201cWe needed to beef up our rotation,\u201d general manager Dana Brown said. \u201cAnd so, we felt like he was a fit. He\u2019s got the good stuff, really good delivery and we thought his stuff would play here at the major league level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old Imai joins the Astros after going 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA last season for the Pacific League\u2019s Seibu Lions, striking out 178 in 163 2\/3 innings. The three-time All-Star in Japan was 58-45 with a 3.15 ERA in eight seasons with Seibu. He has 907 career strikeouts in 963 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Manager Joe Espada raved about the signing and said his brief chats with Imai so far had centered on one subject.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys well know the importance of starting pitching,\u201d Espada said. \u201cYou can never have enough pitching. One thing about my conversations with Imai has been \u2026 how much he says the word champion. And I love that about him because he\u2019s a competitor. You could hear the grit and the toughness, and I\u2019m just excited to have him on board and give him the ball and see him compete for us here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astros owner Jim Crane hopes the addition of Imai will be the first of many signings from Asia as the team makes a concerted effort to bring in more players from continent. He said the Astros recently added people to in Tokyo, Taiwan and Seoul to facilitate that plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got scouts over there and people assisting to identify talent over there now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe just made that adjustment in the summer. Probably didn\u2019t have much to do with this one, but it\u2019ll have a lot to do moving forward as we work on those markets and try to bring the great players here to Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n
The signing of Imai is a boost to a team that missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 in a season decimated by injuries.<\/p>\n
Imai said he first thought about a move to the U.S. after meeting agent Scott Boras about five years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when I really began to seriously consider making my way over to the MLB,\u201d he said in Japanese through a translator. \u201cIt was definitely a moment where I told myself: \u2018hey, if I put in the work and if I trust myself, I really do have a chance at this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Known as a fierce competitor, Imai was asked where he developed that mindset. He said that as long as he can remember, he\u2019s always hated to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo ever since I started playing baseball back in elementary school, I always felt like I was a competitor and wanted to always come out on top, throw the ball the furthest, the fastest,\u201d he said. \u201cThat mentality stuck with me through throughout my career with the Seibu Lions, that mentality of must win and compete and do my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t have a lighter side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to have fun whether it\u2019s baseball or non-baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cThat includes interacting with fans and just having a good time with them as well and I have that feeling of wanting to give back to all those who have supported me. I\u2019m here today because of all the support that I\u2019ve received.\u201d<\/p>\n
He showed off his playful side when asked if he\u2019d connected with any of his new teammates yet. He said he received a direct message on Instagram on Monday morning from Josh Hader, Houston\u2019s closer,known for his 100 mph-plus fastball.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust basically welcoming me to the Houston Astros, and he also sent me his phone number saying: \u2018Hey, let me know if you ever need anything,\u2019\u201d Imai said. \u201cAnd his messaging was very fast \u2014 100 miles per hour it felt like \u2014 and I definitely wanted to reply back with a 100 mile per hour reply.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/a><\/p>\nCopyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Tatsuya Imai made his intentions clear with his first few words during an introductory news conference…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5512,38602,56,58,57,49683,5515,49682,49681,154,48568],"class_list":{"0":"post-112093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-dana-brown","9":"tag-framber-valdez","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-jim-crane","14":"tag-joe-espada","15":"tag-josh-hader","16":"tag-scott-boras","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-tatsuya-imai"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}