The Astros have landed the offseason’s high Japanese pitcher. Houston and right-hander Tatsuya Imai have agreed to a deal, CBS Sports activities HQ’s Jim Bowden confirmed Thursday. It is a three-year contract that may very well be value as much as $63 million, however Imai has decide outs after every season. The crew has not but introduced the signing. Imai’s 45-day posting window was set to run out at 5 p.m. ET on Friday.

Imai, 27, has performed his whole profession with the Seibu Lions of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball. He has been one in all NPB’s high starters since 2021 and, in 2025, he threw 163⅔ innings with a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts. Imai struck out 28% of the batters he confronted within the league the place the common is a 19% strikeout fee. The MLB common was 22% strikeouts in 2025, for reference.

We ranked Imai because the Twelfth-best free agent obtainable this offseason and the fifth-best beginning pitcher. Here is what it is advisable know in regards to the right-hander:

Relative to how entrance workplaces view hitters transferring from NPB, pitchers are a near-certain amount. There are too many success tales to fixate on the variations within the ball and the schedule or to recommend it will have a devastating impact on the expertise in query. That is good information for Imai’s inventory. He is recent off a dominant season that noticed him put up a 1.92 ERA and a 3.96 strikeout-to-walk ratio throughout 163 innings. He possesses mid-90s velocity and a forkball-like slider he delivers from a low launch level. Imai is not far faraway from battling his command (it took till his seventh skilled season for him to stroll fewer than 4 batters per 9 innings), however groups assured in his strikethrowing capacity might envision him being at the very least a No. 3 starter as quickly as subsequent spring.

Because the scouting report suggests, Imai shouldn’t be thought of on par with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was seen as an instantaneous ace who might entrance a contender’s rotation from Day 1. Imai needn’t be Yamamoto to be a useful member of a rotation, nevertheless. He is solely 27 with loads of peak years forward of him, and mid-to-upper-90s fuel at all times performs.

Imai was made obtainable to MLB groups by the posting course of and the Astros owe the Seibu Lions a posting payment that’s primarily based on the scale of his contract. Right here is the posting payment construction:

• Contract value lower than $25 million: 20% of contract worth
• Contract value $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of quantity over $25 million
• Contract value greater than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of quantity over $50 million

The posting payment doesn’t depend towards the aggressive stability tax, although it’s quite a lot of actual cash that needs to be paid to the Lions in brief order. The signing have to be full by the 5 p.m. ET on Friday. Bodily handed, contract signed, the works. An settlement and a handshake shouldn’t be sufficient.