WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The mound is 60 feet and six inches from home plate and the bases are 90 feet apart, but that doesn’t mean Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai isn’t having to make some adjustments on the field in his first year in the Majors.
In addition to the small physical differences in the baseballs used in MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Imai discovered in Thursday’s 5-0 loss to the Mets at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches that pregame timing is different, too. He said the national anthem is performed much closer to first pitch in the NPB than it is in MLB.
“That was something I kind of had to make an adjustment on,” he said through interpreter Ryo Takagi. “That was a little bit tricky to deal with. That’s something I’ll definitely keep in mind and do everything I can to overcome it moving forward.”
Making his Grapefruit League debut, Imai threw one inning and only 10 pitches. That was by design, despite the fact that he took a hard comebacker from Marcus Semien off his right shin on the fifth pitch he threw. That was the only hit he allowed; Semien was quickly erased on a double play.
“He came back and got out of that inning in 10 pitches, was up to 95 [mph],” manager Joe Espada said. “He looked really good out there.”
Imai threw five sinkers, three split-fingered fastballs and two sliders, according to Baseball Savant, averaging 93.3 with his sinker. He threw eight strikes and generated four swings on his 10 pitches, but no whiffs.
“I’ve been working on kind of being able to throw all my pitches in the zone,” Imai said. “With that being said, I was kind of too focused on throwing at the zone as opposed being able to execute certain pitches. That’s something I will definitely keep working on and making adjustments on.”
Imai, 27, was a three-time All-Star in NPB, including 2024 and ’25. He emerged as an ace-level pitcher in Japan over the past several years -- he's posted an ERA under 3.00 and struck out more than a batter per inning in each of the past three seasons. But the 2025 season was arguably the best of his career. He went 10-5 with a career-best 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 163 2/3 innings and contributed to a combined no-hitter for the Lions.
The Astros, looking to add another frontline starter in anticipation of losing Framber Valdez in free agency (he signed with Detroit), signed him to a $54 million deal with opt-outs.
Espada said Imai’s first game action allowed him to make more adjustments to get acclimated to life in the big leagues.
“I think he checked all the boxes today,” Espada said. “He got to the dugout on time, he felt good about the anthem. He went out there and warmed up nicely and had no issues with the clock. I think his first outing, we covered some things that we wanted to, and he came out and had a big smile. He felt good, and we feel good he’ll make his next one.”