Shōta Imanaga bringing mindset of adaptability to the Cubs

During his introductory press conference Friday afternoon, new Cubs starting pitcher Shōta Imanaga tapped into a bit of Cubs history to quickly ingratiate himself with fans.

Imanaga’s first words came from the lyrics of Steve Goodman’s 1984 song, “Go Cubs Go,” the one that’s been sung at Wrigley Field after Cubs wins for years.

“Hey Chicago,” Imanaga said. “What do you say? Cubs are gonna win today.”

And when choosing his jersey number, Imanaga landed on No. 18. Before coming to Chicago and signing with the Cubs, he knew about the 2016 World Series and had seen pictures and videos of the parade. From that curse-breaking team, it was World Series MVP Ben Zobrist who inspired his number choice.

“Ben Zobrist was an excellent player, he played a lot of roles,” Imanaga said via interpreter Shingo Murata. “He did whatever it takes to help the team win, and that is why he left an impression on me.”

Zobrist was the ultimate utilityman, and a similar adaptability will be key to Imanaga’s successful career in Japan carrying over to the United States. In eight seasons, he posted a 3.18 ERA and a 64-50 record. During last year’s World Baseball Classic, Imanaga was an integral part of Team Japan’s WBC championship.

Winning fans over in January at the Cubs Convention is easily done, but Imanaga will have to earn their continued affection with his performance on the mound when the season starts.

Coming off of a pleasantly surprising yet ultimately frustrating 83-79 season last year, the Cubs faithful are anxious to see the team take a step forward. Imanaga is making a multi-faceted transition, moving teams, leagues and countries. Encouragingly, his focus for 2024 is on growing and adjusting to a new league.

“I want to be an adaptable pitcher,” Imanaga said via Murata. “Sometimes the situation might call for me to pound the zone with the fastball, sometimes the situation might call for a lot of breaking balls. But I don’t want to be one style. I want to be adaptable.”

That mindset was part of what made Imanaga appealing to the Cubs’ front office and coaching staff.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and general manager Carter Hawkins were impressed with his desire to keep improving as a pitcher when they met with him. Hoyer started scouting Imanaga months ago and went to see him pitch in Japan in September. Imanaga said their words of encouragement and belief in his potential resonated with him during their meeting.

New manager Craig Counsell believes Imanaga’s attitude toward adjusting to pitching in the U.S. is a product of his maturity and skill. It’s inevitable that Imanaga will have a bad start or two at some point during his first season with the Cubs, and needs to respond to that struggle. Counsell expects that his new starter is equipped to handle that.

“In everything that I’ve watched, and when you look through the stat line, this is a very skilled pitcher,” he said. “His skill level is going to allow him to make the necessary adjustments.

“He can pitch like he’s been pitching and be fine, but you know he’s going to want to do things and tweak things and learn from the league, and the skill level is going to allow him to do that.”

Imanaga inked his four-year, $53 million contract with Chicago during a winter when Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto both signed with the Dodgers. He said he chose the Cubs because he felt like they as a team reflected where he is as a player. Good, but with room and desire to keep getting better. And Chicago the city played its part in convincing him, too.

Imanaga said he got to Chicago on Dec. 22 and visited different parts of the city. Some of it was very different, he said, but there were also places that reminded him of Japan.

“In some ways, I kind of want to say ‘tadaima,’ which is something we say when we come home,” Imanaga said.

As he made his decision, Imanaga said he spent time researching the team and its history and traditions, which is what led him to Zobrist and the 2016 team. The World Series team left a big impression on Imanaga, he said, and it helped when he asked other Japanese players about Chicago and their unified response was nothing but praise for the city.

Imanaga started with a good impression during his introductory press conference, and his reception during the opening ceremony at Cubs Convention was joyous and loud, the packed ballroom cheering as he was introduced.

It’s likely they’ll continue to cheer as he pitches at Wrigley. There will also be times when he has to adjust to periods of struggle. A pitcher with Imanaga’s credentials might be justified in thinking of himself as accomplished enough to keep doing what he has always done and expect success.

But Imanaga admires Zobrist for what he did for past Cubs teams, which was filling whatever need the team had, being adaptable.

Wearing No. 18 in 2024, Imanaga plans to have the same kind of flexible mindset.

“I am by no means a finished product, and there is a lot for me to learn, and there’s a lot for me to study day in and day out,” he said. “I chose No. 18 because as I was looking through Chicago and the Cubs’ history, I saw that it was the number that Ben Zobrist wore, and I wanted to be the kind of player he was.”