Cubs' Shota Imanaga has jokes — showers of them — but how serious is he about team success?
ARLINGTON, Texas — Not long ago, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga shared that the most surprising revelation during his first year in America was the ability, in certain cases, to turn right legally on a red light.
Amazing, come to think of it.
Yeah, well, Imanaga, a rookie from Japan who’s set to make his All-Star debut Tuesday — right around the fourth inning, we’re betting — just kicked things up a notch in the surprise department.
“I was waiting for this question,” he said Monday at Globe Life Field, “and I had an answer prepared.”
No matter what, it was going to be good.
“So,” he began, with an assist from translator Edwin Stansberry, “when you take a shower, you have to adjust the temperature of the water. In Japan, you can just set a temperature and then that temperature of water comes out — nice and easy. Over here, you have to kind of guess. Sometimes it’s too hot, and sometimes it’s too cold. I think I [need] to get some practice in. Even this morning at the hotel, I was taking a lukewarm shower. So, hopefully I can get that right.”
There you have it, folks. Quite the cleansing of the soul, was it not?
Imanaga has been a delight since joining the Cubs on a four-year, $53 million deal. On the mound, he has been terrific and then some, off to an 8-2 start with a 2.97 ERA and a healthy imbalance of 98 strikeouts and only 16 walks — the fewest walks among the top 25 National Leaguers in strikeouts. He has allowed one or zero earned runs in 10 of his 17 starts while doing a lot of heavy lifting to keep the underachieving Cubs somewhat afloat.
And off the mound, he quickly has become a fan and media favorite. From greeting those at his introductory news conference with well-practiced lyrics from “Go, Cubs, Go” to obsessing over Dunkin’ coffee, nicknaming himself “Mike” and showing his funny side in Arlington, he has been a breath of fresh air.
But the man is 30 years old. One would think it might not tickle his funny bone to see the Cubs in last place at the break. One would hope what Imanaga wants more than anything else is to play for a winner.
Does he?
“There’s obviously experiences you learn from when you win and experiences you learn from when you lose,” he said. “I think the most important part is, from what I can tell from my experiences, [winning] would be the goal. Winning is a good thing.”
Imanaga was asked specifically if he thinks the Cubs — 8½ games out of first place and 3½ games out of the last NL wild-card spot, not to mention four games under .500 — should be sellers if they aren’t hot from the resumption of the season up to the July 30 trade deadline.
“I don’t know,” he said. “If I have the opportunity to meet the owner, I’ll ask him.”
Hasn’t he met Tom Ricketts?
“I’ve met him,” he said, “but I haven’t talked to him. So, stuff like that, I probably shouldn’t talk about.”
Shower talk is easier.
“I think I’m better at answering those kinds of questions,” he admitted.
Imanaga threw six scoreless innings against the Rockies at Wrigley Field in his first start as a Cub. In his final start before the break, he outdueled the Orioles’ Corbin Burnes, the American League All-Star starter, in six scoreless innings in Baltimore. In between, he had brutal starts against the Brewers and the Mets but more good than bad.
So far, he’s glad he picked up and moved all the way to Chicago.
“I would say in my life, all the choices I’ve made were correct choices,” he said. “The fact I came to Chicago, I need to prove that was the right decision.”
That’s no joke.