For an established veteran pitcher, there tends not to be much you can take away from the entirety of Spring Training, much less a single outing. Is he healthy? Is he stretched out? Those are pretty much the things.
With Shota Imanaga, however, I think it’s probably more complex than that. Although he’s absolutely an established professional pitcher, it’s a little less clear that he’s a sure-fire, established guy FOR 2026 in MLB. That’s not a knock on Imanaga overall, but more a comment on the way his hamstring injury last year, his subsequent down performance, and his extreme home run struggles all combined to leave some big questions by the end of the year.
In particular, there are questions and concerns about whether Imanaga’s fastball can get back to where it was in 2024, both in terms of velocity and location. So, when he does this in his first Spring Training start, it’s definitely something to notice and celebrate:
Shōta Imanaga with a SIGNIFICANT boost in velocity today. ? pic.twitter.com/k1GhKRq75f
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) February 24, 2026Shota Imanaga’s fastball post-injury in 2025:90.7 mph | 17.5” iVBIn his first inning today, it was back and then some:93.5 mph | 19” iVBBoth the velocity and carry looked excellent.
— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) February 24, 2026Shota Imanaga’s fastball shape and velocity today looked much more similar to what we saw from him in 2024. He posted a 2.91 ERA with 174 K in 173.1 IP that season.An encouraging sign that he may bounce back in 2026. pic.twitter.com/XQUHNsnNse
— Carson Wolf (@TheWrigleyWire) February 25, 2026It’s important not to go too far with any of this, of course. It’s still just his first appearance in Spring Training. A whole lotta miles exist between that and, say, September performances in critical big league games. But it’s absolutely a big checkpoint simply to be able to say: OK, cool, 93 mph with good life and location are still in there for him.
Shota Imanaga himself noted what was going on and how important it can be (Cubs.com):
‘Most notably, Imanaga’s fastball velocity was 93 mph on average, per Statcast. That was 2.2 mph higher than his 2025 season average of 90.8 mph. And last year’s showing was down from 91.7 mph in his standout rookie campaign in ‘24. While Imanaga relies more on command and deception, the early radar gun readings are a positive sign.
“I want to preface it by saying, for me, velo isn’t everything,” Imanaga said. “But obviously, having velocity is an advantage. So, I feel like today out there, it felt like the velo was up. Overall, my takeaway was that it was a good start.”’
A good start indeed. And a good start.
You don’t need me to tell you the significant difference those extra clicks could mean for Shota Imanaga, not only on the effectiveness of the fastball (velo is harder to hit AND the velo helps give the pitch a little more late ride, which is key for him), but also in his ability to better play his secondaries off the fastball. The better his fastball, the better his splitter and his slider, for example.
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