Tatsuya Imai, a prized right-handed pitcher who is expected to be one of the many imports from Japan this offseason, signed a three-year contract with the Houston Astros on Friday. The deal is worth $54 million over the length of the deal and includes player opt-outs after both the 2026 and 2027 MLB seasons.

According to MLB.com, the contract includes incentives such as a $3 million bonus if Imai throws 100 innings in 2026.

Imai, who turns 28 in May, doesn’t fit the prototypical build of a dominant pitcher at 5-foot-11 and 154 pounds, but his production in Japan indicates he could be a front-of-the-rotation pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was a three-time All-Star in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and is coming off the best season of his career.

In 2025 while with the Saitama Seibu Lions, Imai posted a career-best 1.92 ERA en route to a 10–5 record. He had a sub-1.000 WHIP and a career-high of 3.96 strikeouts per walk. Over 163.2 innings, Imai struck out 178 batters while giving up just six home runs. He was also part of a combined no-hitter by the Lions, with Imai throwing the first eight innings before Kaima Taira completed the no-hitter in the ninth.

Over his eight seasons with the Lions, Imai went 58–45, but his record doesn’t do justice to his performance. He had a microscopic 3.15 ERA and averaged nearly a strikeout per inning. He’s posted an ERA of 2.45 or lower in each of the last four seasons and has an impressive and diverse pitching repertoire that should serve him well in the States.

He throws five different pitches, including a four-seam fastball that had an average velocity in 2025 of 94.9 mph, which was just above the MLB average for right-handed starters of 94.6 mph.His main off-speed pitch is his slider, which generated a whiff rate—or the percentage of pitches swung at and missed—of 46 percent last year.

For comparison, just seven pitchers in all of MLB last year had at least a 46 percent whiff rate on their sliders. Imai also throws a changeup, as well as a splitter and curveball. Additionally, he’s shown the stamina to go deep into games and logged five complete games, as well as three shutouts, in his last year in the NPB.

Imai entered the posting system in November and was given until Friday, Jan. 2 to sign with an MLB team. If he wasn’t signed during this timeframe, then he would have reverted back to his prior team in the Lions and wouldn’t have been able to be posted again until next offseason.

Under MLB’s posting agreement with the NPB, the Astros will now have to pay the Saitama Seibu Lions for signing their former player. With contracts above $50 million, as is the case with Imai’s, the release fee is 20 percent of the first $25 million, plus 17.5 percent of the next $25 million, plus 15 percent of the total value.

A player of Imai’s pedigree and relative youth had many teams interested in his services. The pitcher is represented by super agent Scott Boras, who, shortly after the 2025 MLB season ended, identified the factors that Imai would be attracted to with his first MLB club.

“He loves big markets,” Boras said of Imai in November. “We go through a list of the places where he may want to play. Believe me, he is someone who really wants to be on a winning team and compete at the highest level.”

Houston certainly satisfies Imai’s requirements, being the fourth-most populous city in the United States and having been a fixture in the postseason for much of the last decade. Despite missing out on the playoffs in 2025, Houston had made the postseason in each of the previous eight seasons, advancing to seven straight American League Championship Series, making four World Series appearances, and winning two championships.

The Astros signing Imai now gives the team options when it comes to two-time All-Star pitcher, Framber Valdez, who is a free agent. He is one of the most coveted pitchers on the market, and while Houston would love to retain his services, the Astros would only want to do so on their terms. Imai’s signing would lessen the blow if Valdez does end up departing for another team.

Imai isn’t the only high-profile Japanese player to be posted this offseason with the goal of landing in Major League Baseball. Slugger Munetaka Murakami, who was a two-time MVP and a Triple Crown winner in the NPB, also has found a home in America, having signed with the Chicago White Sox in late December.Additionally, Kazuma Okamato, a three-time home run leader and two-time Gold Glove winner in Japan, was also posted this offseason. He’s met with various MLB teams in person over the last few weeks but still is unsigned. His posting window closes on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.