The top Japanese starter is off the market. 

Tatsuya Imai is signing with the Astros, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman. 

It’s a three-year deal with opt-out clauses after each season, and the contract has a base value of $54 million that can reach $63 million based on innings pitched, Heyman reported. 

Tatsuya Imai during an April 2025 game. Getty Images

Imai, 27, will earn $18 million per season with an opportunity for $3 million more each campaign based on 80, 90 and 100 innings pitched, according to Heyman. 

The Yankees were among the teams to have expressed interest in the righty fireballer, and Imai signed one day before his 45-day window to land a deal with an MLB team expired Friday. 

Imai is the third high-profile Japanese starter to come to MLB in as many years, joining Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2023 offseason) and Roki Sasaki (2024). 

He did not approach the record 12-year, $325 million deal Yamamoto signed, but he earned more than Sasaki, who only received $6.5 million due to MLB’s international amateur free agent rules. 

Unlike that pair, who signed with the Dodgers and have helped the team to World Series success, Imai wanted to forge his own path. 

“I’d rather take [the Dodgers] down,” Imai said earlier this offseason in an interview with Japanese media, per MLB.com. “Of course, I’d enjoy playing alongside [Shohei] Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki, but winning against a team like that and becoming a World Champion would be the most valuable thing in my life.” 

That path now takes him to a different perennial contender in Houston, where he may replace free agent Framber Valdez in the rotation. 

Imai has an elite 99 mph fastball that he pairs with a slider, and he’s posted a 2.14 ERA spanning the past two years for the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Pacific League. 

He’s struck out more than a batter per inning in each of the last four seasons, including 187 punchouts over 173 ¹/₃ innings in 2024 and 178 strikeouts spanning 163 ²/₃ innings last season. 

Imai in March 2025. Getty Images

Imai posted a 3.07 ERA in 187 games in Japan with 1,045 strikeouts in 1,077 ²/₃ innings. 

Those stats made him one of the top free agents in a class that lacked a true ace. 

“You have a 27-year-old pitcher who throws 98, 99,” agent Scott Boras said about Imai during the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla. “Teams look at that and say, ‘Believe me, Imai wildest dreams I never expected someone to be available like that.’ ” 

Did Imai replace Framber Valdez in Houston? AP

The Astros missed the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons with an 87-75 record in 2025, but they should have a nice combination atop the rotation with Imai and Hunter Brown. 

It’s possible Houston may still have some money to spend to retain Valdez since Imai’s contract is relatively team-friendly compared to other pitching deals like the seven-year, $210 million pact Dylan Cease signed with the Blue Jays earlier this offseason. 

This signing also could affect the Mets and Yankees in their quests to upgrade their staffs, although neither team had been viewed as a serious contender for the Japanese star. 

Valdez, Ranger Suárez and Zac Gallen are among the top free agent pitchers still available.