WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- All eyes were on Tatsuya Imai on Friday afternoon when he faced hitters for the first time since signing with the Astros in January. And it wasn’t just any hitters that the Japanese star would be staring down on Field 2 at CACTI Ballpark of the Palm Beaches.
With many of his teammates, much of the Astros' front office -- including general manager Dana Brown -- and a group of Japanese media watching his every move, an admittedly nervous Imai threw his first live batting practice of the spring. He started by getting Nick Allen to ground out on three pitches before nine-time All-Star and three-time batting champion Jose Altuve stepped to the plate.
“As soon as I started facing Jose, I was like, ‘Oh shoot, I’m actually in the big leagues,’” Imai joked.
Imai, flashing the electric stuff and vast pitch arsenal that made him a three-time All-Star in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, got Altuve to swing and miss at his first pitch and to ground out on his second pitch. He then struck out Carlos Correa, Jake Meyers and Taylor Trammell in succession, throwing a total of 17 pitches to five hitters.
“Really good,” Altuve said. “He threw me a slider that [you] couldn’t really see the spin. Nice and sharp. And then after that, a fastball. I saw two pitches. So, yeah, very good. Obviously, two pitches is not enough, I wish I could get more. But the first impression is really good. He’s going to help this team a lot.”
Astros pitching coach Josh Miller was pleased at the amount of strikes Imai threw and his velocity, which was in the low-to-mid 90s with the fastball. He threw all of his pitches, except his curveball, with the “wrong way” slider getting some swings and misses and much of the praise.
“It has a natural shape that backs up, doesn’t go left, even though it might have the spin that looks to a hitter like it will,” Miller said. “There were some weird swings against it, some foul balls where the ball got in on the hands a little bit. Where sliders will typically go down, away, it didn’t really do that. Just a unique pitch.”
And then there was his splitter, which had Trammell in awe.
“Be honest with you, I played this game for 24 years now and 11 professionally, and I’ve never seen a pitch like that before in my life,” he said.
Correa, who saw six pitches, said the split-finger blended with the fastball effectively, which made it difficult to pick up.
“It comes out hard and when it’s time to make a decision, it just drops down,” he said. “[Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu] Yamamoto has the same thing, where he throws a fastball down and tries to make you chase the split. He can do special things like that, also.”
Trammell spent a few minutes with Imai and interpreter Ryo Takagi talking in the clubhouse following practice and had a back-and-forth dialogue about what each of them saw. Specifically, Imai asked Trammell if his pitches were tunnelling well.
“The ball when he’s coming downhill, he releases it in his hand and it’s almost like a snap,” Trammell said. “Everything was lively. I thought all of his pitches I saw for the most part. The fastball is very hoppy. It’s got a little bit of run to it. And then, I mean, we saw that splitter.”
The Astros are still getting a feel for Imai and his routine, including Miller. He said he’s yet to sit down with Imai to have his meeting about the pitcher’s goals, but that will come soon now that he’s faced hitters. Imai's next step remains uncertain: He could throw another live BP session and get into Grapefruit League action.
No matter what, he will draw a crowd.
“He did say that he was a little nervous,” Miller said. “He’s been out watching the guys throw live the last few days to kind of see how it went. I think it made him a little more comfortable. It seemed like he was at ease on the mound, looked natural. Whatever nerves he had were kind of erased in the bullpen. He did well.”