Shota Imanaga (31) of the Chicago Cubs made his Major League debut. In his first game against Colorado on April 2 (Korea time), Imanaga became the winning pitcher by pitching hard with two hits, no four outs and nine strikeouts during six innings. There was nothing to blame for his pitching.
In fact, until the first game, the focus might have been on short-sleeved tops rather than results. Chicago, which is located near the Great Lakes, has a fairly chilly weather until April, matching its reputation as a “city of winds.” It was this cold spring weather that Seiya Suzuki, who signed with the Cubs ahead of the 2022 season, confessed that it was the most difficult thing to adjust to. Unlike other teammates who played faithfully in their visit to Korea, Imana surprised fans by wearing short-sleeved tops without anything on inside.
Few people are paying attention to Imana’s short-sleeved shirt. She has plenty of things to look out for, not to mention short-sleeved ones. She performed very well. She pitched well in her first game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, allowing no runs on two hits and three strikeouts in four innings, one run (non-earning) in five ⅓ (non-earning) in five innings, and three runs (two earned) in six innings in the game against Miami on Sunday, recording three wins and no losses in this season. Her ERA is only 0.84, and she has been on a roll with 21 strikeouts in 21 ⅓ innings.
Imana is among the top players in the National League in terms of Cy Young Award points devised by Tom Tango. In this calculation method, in which victory, strikeout, innings and earned run are the main frameworks, Imana has scored 13.8 points. National League pitchers ranked fifth in the league, following Ranger Suarez (18.7 points in Philadelphia), Dylan Siege (15.3 points in San Diego), Logan Webb (14.9 points in San Francisco, and Tyler Glasnow (14.9 points in LA Dodgers). Considering that Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers currently has 4.0 points, we can realize Imana’s incredible start.
Local fans are welcoming the team, calling it a “recruitment of a profitable cost.” There are even words comparing the season and performance of legendary Cubs pitchers. Cubs fan column website “Cervis Crib” showed high expectations for the team by comparing the current performance of the first four games of Greg Maddox in 1992, Mark Pryor in 2003, and Jake Arrieta in 2015.
In 1992, he won the Cy Young Award for the first time in his personal career with 20 wins. It marked the beginning of a legend. In the end, he pitched 268 innings in 35 games, recording 20 wins and 11 losses with a 2.18 ERA. His record in the first four games was 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA. At the time, Maddox had 5.6 strikeouts per nine innings, while Imana had 8.9 in his first four games.
In 2003, sensationalist Mark Pryor pitched 211 ⅓ innings in 30 games, ranking third in the Cy Young Award with 18-6 losses and 2.43 ERA. In his first four games, Pryor recorded 3-1 with 1.50 ERA and struck out 9.3 per nine innings. However, his batting average was 0.181, slightly higher than Imana’s 0.175. 메이저놀이터
Jake Arrieta, a former Cubs player and last Cy Young Award winner, had 22 wins and an ERA of 1.77 in 2015. Arrieta’s first four games were 3-1 with an ERA of 2.03 and a batting average of 0.184, which was also excellent, but slightly lower than Imana’s first four games.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether Imanaga will be able to achieve the final record of the players at the time, but there is something understandable in that Cubs fans are watching a player who has made a great start in a long time. Attention is also focusing on whether Imanaga’s success story, which has more than a speed limit and various breaking balls, can continue.