The latest on Imai, Hader, Pearson after rehab appearances in Sugar Land
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HOUSTON -- While Shohei Ohtani was pitching against the Astros on Tuesday night at Daikin Park, fellow Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai headlined a trio of Houston pitchers who worked in a Minor League rehab outing a few miles away at Triple-A Sugar Land.
Imai, the Japanese star who has endured a rocky adjustment to the Major Leagues, had trouble throwing strikes while facing Albuquerque at Constellation Field. The right-hander walked five batters in three innings of work, including four walks in the third inning alone, and gave up one run and one hit with three strikeouts.
“I think the first two innings went really well but the third inning, I think we had first-pitch balls too much,” Imai told reporters through his interpreter in Sugar Land.
Imai, who is on the injured list with arm fatigue, threw only 27 of 63 pitches for strikes and touched 96.6 mph with his fastball. The Astros had hoped he would throw more strikes, but now they probably have no choice than to activate him and put him back in the Major League rotation and hope he figures it out.
Signed out of Japan on Jan. 5 to a three-year contract worth $54 million, Imai had a strong spring for the Astros before stumbling at the start of the regular season. He posted a 7.27 ERA in three starts, including a disastrous outing April 10 in Seattle where he recorded one out and walked four batters.
Imai has pointed to the differences between the mounds and baseballs in the Major Leagues and Japan, as well as his eating schedule and getting used to the pitch clock, as reasons why he’s struggled to throw strikes.
“I’m going to keep getting ready to get back to the Major League game,” he said.
Josh Hader, meanwhile, threw a scoreless inning in his first Minor League rehab outing Tuesday, allowing one walk and one strikeout while hitting 94.7 mph. He threw nine of his 16 pitches for strikes, averaging 94 mph on 11 fastballs. Hader (left biceps tendinitis) can’t come off the 60-day injured list until May 24 and will have as many as five more outings in the Minors.
Hader said Tuesday’s rehab outing was akin to his first outing of Spring Training.
“I felt like I was riding a bike,” he said. “That’s all good news for me. Some little things I’ve got to clean up, but overall I was trying to be in the zone and throw my offspeed in the zone, which I thought I did very well.”
Hader, who missed the final two months of last season with a left shoulder capsule strain, was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis at the start of February and has been slowly working his way back. He saved 28 games for the Astros in 2025 and made his sixth All-Star team. Hader landed on the 15-day injured list last August after reporting some left shoulder discomfort while working out at Daikin Park.
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Nate Pearson, who had offseason surgery to clean up his right elbow and then had his throwing program slowed down in the spring because of soreness, went two-thirds of an inning at Sugar Land. He allowed one hit, three walks, three runs (one earned) with two strikeouts. He threw 34 pitches (17 strikes) and touched 99.1 mph.
Pearson had previously made a pair of Minor League rehab starts, including Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi. He threw 53 pitches (28 strikes) in two innings, allowing four hits, four runs and three walks while striking out three batters.