{"id":507402,"date":"2026-01-06T04:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T04:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/507402\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T04:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T04:16:14","slug":"tatsuya-imai-skipping-wbc-to-get-acclimated-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/507402\/","title":{"rendered":"Tatsuya Imai skipping WBC to get acclimated in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai<\/a> will not pitch in the World Baseball Classic this spring as he begins his first season<\/a> in Major League Baseball with Houston.<\/p>\n

\u201cHouston Astros<\/a> starter Tatsuya Imai says he won’t pitch for Team Japan in the WBC. He wants to get acclimated with his teammates without a disruption during the spring,\u201d said USA Today reporter Bob Nightengale in a post on X, formerly Twitter.<\/p>\n

Imai\u2019s decision comes after he signed with the Astros following a closely watched free agency process. Houston agreed to a three-year contract with the Japanese standout, a deal that can reach $63 million, with $54 million guaranteed. The contract carries an average annual value that trails only Yoshinobu Yamamoto among Japanese pitchers, with Imai slated to earn $18 million per season and up to $21 million based on innings pitched.<\/p>\n

The Astros targeted Imai as they reshaped their rotation after Framber Valdez entered free agency. Houston viewed the right-hander as a top-of-the-rotation option and a potential long-term replacement, joining starters such as Hunter Brown and Christian Javier.<\/p>\n

Imai arrives in Houston<\/a> after eight seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He appeared in 159 games, posting a 3.15 ERA with 907 strikeouts against 468 walks. He was named an NPB All-Star three times, including selections in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

By opting out of the WBC, Imai is committing to a full spring training with Houston as he prepares for his MLB debut. The decision allows him to focus on building routine, adjusting to a new schedule and workload and establishing chemistry with a rotation that is expected to rely on him immediately. With the Astros investing heavily in the right-hander this offseason, Imai\u2019s acclimation this spring will be a key part of Houston\u2019s plans heading into the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai will not pitch in the World Baseball Classic this spring as he begins his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,4,4658],"class_list":{"0":"post-507402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houstonastros","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-tatsuya-imai"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115846221694426734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}