HOUSTON — Tatsuya Imai made his intentions clear with his first few words during an introductory news conference with the Houston Astros on Monday.
The Japanese right-hander smiled before reading a prepared message in English from his phone.
“What’s up H-town?” he said. “I am Tatsuya Imai and I’m ready to chase a world championship. Let’s go, Houston.”
The Astros and Imai agreed to a $54 million, three-year contract last week, bolstering a rotation searching for reinforcements after ace Framber Valdez became a free agent and appears unlikely to return.
“We needed to beef up our rotation,” general manager Dana Brown said. “And so, we felt like he was a fit. He’s got the good stuff, really good delivery and we thought his stuff would play here at the major league level.”
The 27-year-old Imai joins the Astros after going 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA last season for the Pacific League’s Seibu Lions, striking out 178 in 163⅔ innings. The three-time All-Star in Japan was 58-45 with a 3.15 ERA in eight seasons with Seibu. He has 907 career strikeouts in 963⅔ innings.
Manager Joe Espada raved about the signing and said his brief chats with Imai so far had centered on one subject.
“You guys well know the importance of starting pitching,” Espada said. “You can never have enough pitching. One thing about my conversations with Imai has been … how much he says the word champion. And I love that about him because he’s a competitor. You could hear the grit and the toughness, and I’m just excited to have him on board and give him the ball and see him compete for us here.”
Astros owner Jim Crane hopes the addition of Imai will be the first of many signings from Asia as the team makes a concerted effort to bring in more players from the continent. He said the Astros recently added people to in Tokyo, Taiwan and Seoul to facilitate that plan.
“We’ve got scouts over there and people assisting to identify talent over there now,” he said. “We just made that adjustment in the summer. Probably didn’t have much to do with this one, but it’ll have a lot to do moving forward as we work on those markets and try to bring the great players here to Houston.”
The signing of Imai is a boost to a team that missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 in a season decimated by injuries.
Imai said he first thought about a move to the U.S. after meeting agent Scott Boras about five years ago.
“That’s when I really began to seriously consider making my way over to the MLB,” he said in Japanese through a translator. “It was definitely a moment where I told myself: ‘hey, if I put in the work and if I trust myself, I really do have a chance at this.'”
Known as a fierce competitor, Imai was asked where he developed that mindset. He said that as long as he can remember, he’s always hated to lose.
“So ever since I started playing baseball back in elementary school, I always felt like I was a competitor and wanted to always come out on top, throw the ball the furthest, the fastest,” he said. “That mentality stuck with me through throughout my career with the Seibu Lions, that mentality of must win and compete and do my best.”
But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a lighter side.
“I like to have fun whether it’s baseball or non-baseball,” he said. “That includes interacting with fans and just having a good time with them as well and I have that feeling of wanting to give back to all those who have supported me. I’m here today because of all the support that I’ve received.”
He showed off his playful side when asked if he’d connected with any of his new teammates yet. He said he received a direct message on Instagram on Monday morning from Josh Hader, Houston’s closer — known for his 100 mph-plus fastball.
“Just basically welcoming me to the Houston Astros, and he also sent me his phone number saying: ‘Hey, let me know if you ever need anything,'” Imai said. “And his messaging was very fast — 100 miles per hour it felt like — and I definitely wanted to reply back with a 100 mile per hour reply.”
