Cubs' Shota Imanaga named to All-MLB Second Team

Throughout the 2024 season, the Chicago Cubs were well aware of how strong a rookie year Shota Imanaga was having. The rest of the baseball world officially knows it, too.

Thursday night, Imanaga was named to the All-MLB Second Team, which was announced at the All-MLB Awards Show in Las Vegas.

Imanaga’s success was on full display from the first time took the ball in his first season with the Cubs.

There was that nine-start stretch to begin his major league career in which he posted a 0.84 ERA (the lowest for a pitcher through nine career starts — excluding openers — since 1913, when earned runs became an official stat). He went 15 full innings before walking his first batter, and he ultimately only walked 28 across 173 1/3 frames.

There were some hiccups along the way, but that wasn’t unexpected considering Imanaga was embarking on his first season pitching in Major League Baseball after eight years in Japan. But by the end of the year, he had posted a 2.91 ERA with a 15-3 record. In games he started, the Cubs were 23-6. When he wasn’t on the bump, they were 60-73.

There’s no doubting the impact he had, and after Imanaga’s last start of the year, this is how Cubs manager Craig Counsell described what he meant to the team: “He’s been our best pitcher. He’s been our best player. There’s no question about it. He’s just delivered, and he’s been a huge boost for us.”

One of the biggest factors in Imanaga’s success was his consistency.

There’s the aforementioned walk total (28), and he only gave free passes to two or more batters in a game six times. That helped keep his ERA low throughout the year — in his 17 starts before the All-Star break, his ERA was 2.97. In his 12 starts post-All-Star break, his ERA was 2.83.

Consistency in terms of his health was another major part of his success.

Imanaga spent every day of the season on the active roster, allowing him to take the ball every time he was called upon as he did what he could to keep the Cubs in the playoff race. The coaching staff played its part in that, giving him five-plus days of rest before 23 of his 29 outings, and staying healthy the whole year was a goal Imanaga took seriously.

“Talking to Craig, talking to my teammates, they really emphasized how important it is to stay healthy, especially in September,” Imanaga said via interpreter Edwin Stanberry at the end of the year. “And so that was one of the goals of mine, especially back in spring training, just being able to continue to pitch, stay healthy, and I think I was able to do that.”

Imanaga’s All-MLB Second Team nod follows his first All-Star Game selection over the summer. It puts a cap on a season that also saw him throw the first seven innings of the Cubs’ combined no-hitter on Sept. 4.

Just over 10 months ago, Imanaga joined the Cubs on a four-year, $53 million contract. There were obvious questions about how his Nippon Professional Baseball success would translate to his first run in the big leagues.

But he answered so many questions and battled through so many challenges thrown his way in 2024. He showed an ability to learn and adapt to his new environment and keep pitching at a high level. His personality off the field and his stellar work on it made him an easy fan favorite.

Imanaga’s rookie season went as well as the Cubs could’ve hoped for. Now, the work begins to try to make the sequel even better.

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