Even when the foundations didn’t require every staff to have no less than one consultant within the All-Star Recreation, I believe Chicago Cubs lefty Shōta Imanaga was going to get the decision. In the present day, he did.
The 30-year-old rookie, transitioning to the States after an extended and really profitable profession in Japan, has been prettying nice in all however two begins, and has posted a 3.16 ERA over 91.0 IP, hanging out 24.7% of the batters he’s confronted and strolling simply 4.0%.
It’s actually nice to see how properly Imanaga has pitched this 12 months in his transfer to MLB, and I believe it may possibly solely assist the Cubs’ standing amongst Japanese gamers that they served as a fairly great place for Imanaga to flourish (and Seiya Suzuki earlier than him). All the time good to get these further constructive eyeballs.
So far as different Cubs gamers go, I believe you would make an argument for Justin Steele and Michael Busch, and Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki have truly been among the many finest outfield performers. A staff just like the Cubs was simply not going to get a ton of consideration for the sting case guys, however I suppose we’ll keep watch over replacements within the weeks forward.
Within the meantime, congrats to Shōta Imanaga on the well-deserved recognition!
The complete slate of All-Star pitchers and reserves introduced as we speak, in addition to the All-Star starters, might be discovered right here.