How Shota Imanaga Became a 2024 All-Star, and What He Means to the Cubs

To be sure, a few players on the roster have done good work thus far, even as the Cubs have trudged out to a NL Central-worst 47-51 record to start the season. Three everyday hitters (Michael Busch, Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ) have an OPS above .800. Tyson Miller has been electric out of the bullpen since coming over via trade in May, and Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon have both pitched to sub-3.30 ERAs in 85 or more innings this season.

Any of them would have been worthy All-Star candidates, though the Cubs’ painful-to-watch May and June pretty much sunk the team’s fringe candidates' chances of garnering enough votes to appear at the festivities. The team’s true snub is Justin Steele, who (despite missing a month of action thanks to a hamstring strain suffered on Opening Day) has pitched to a sterling 2.71 ERA in 86 ⅓ innings of work. He’s pitching deep into games (averaging greater than 6.0 innings per start), has the lowest WHIP of everyone in the rotation (0.95), and has the second-most strikeouts on the team (81). If 2023 was his breakout year, he’s corroborated his status as an “ace” this year.

While Steele won’t be making his second consecutive appearance at baseball’s mid-season concelebration, another lefty starting pitcher from the Cubs will make his All-Star debut. And it’s not Drew Smyly.

Shota Imanaga has been tremendous this season, leading the team in innings (97) and strikeouts (98) while functionally serving as the Robin to Steele’s Batman. Through his first 17 MLB starts, Imanaga has been worth 2.0 WAR, posted a nearly-identical FIP (3.28) and ERA (2.97), and been 42% better than the average pitcher by ERA+. When the Cubs signed Imanaga to a (complicated) four-year, $53 million contract this winter, even the most naïve of optimists could hardly have imagined his Stateside debut going much better.

Among National League pitchers, Imanaga ranks 16th in strikeouts, despite finishing the first half with the 30th-most innings. His ERA would rank sixth, if he had a few more innings under his belt to qualify. He’s tied for fifth with 11 quality starts. And, just for good measure, he’s tied with many pitchers for seventh in the NL, with two successful pickoffs. By just about all accounts, Imanaga is a worthy All-Star representative, even if his selection was mandated by the league's rule that every team have a delegate. 

There are flaws to point out in the 30-year-old’s game. He’s virtually reliant on just two pitches, and he remains as susceptible as expected to the long ball, having given up 12 home runs already this year. Three times this season (all since May 29), Imanaga has given up multiple round-trippers in a single game. Unsurprisingly, those three games all ended in losses, with two accounting for the only two losses on his otherwise pristine 8-2 record.

There’s time to sort all that out, though. The Cubs appear ready to make a spirited push ahead of the trade deadline (despite my own willingness to throw in the towel after suffering through two months of unwatchable baseball). To do so, they’ll need to come out of the All-Star break blisteringly hot, like they did a year ago, which will need to be fueled by more of the same dominance from a starting rotation that has done so much heavy lifting already in 2024. What Imanaga’s been doing thus far has been working, and as long as he can continue to mask his deficiencies while the Cubs are in the Wild Card hunt, an overhaul to his repertoire can wait.

The next few days are a chance to breathe for the Cubs, who will need to muster all the courage and willpower they can to undo the damage that was done in May and June. However, in between our collective meditation sessions, let’s make sure to properly celebrate 2024 All-Star Shota Imanaga.