I mentioned it in the Miscellany, but it’s worth underscoring at the top of a standalone post: Shōta Imanaga reached 57 pitches in his outing yesterday, which puts him in a very good position for his upcoming Opening Day start in Tokyo.
Generally speaking, you like to see starting pitchers at the five-ish inning, 75-ish pitch mark for a traditional opening week, but with the schedule so different this year for the Cubs, I wasn’t exactly sure where the Cubs were going to try to have Imanaga and Justin Steele. But with two more starts available to Imanaga to ramp up – either in Cactus League action or a simulated game – it seems like he could possibly be at that 75-pitch mark as soon as his next start, and thus easily there for the opener.
Which is NOT to say the Cubs would definitely push him to that point. As Craig Counsell notes, “There’s no question that we’ll have kind of a pitch count [for the opener]. But we also have to realize the intensity in that game is going to be way more. And that causes fatigue, so we have to take that into effect as well.”
In other words, even going to 75 pitches in that first game in Tokyo is probably an ill-advised plan. Expect something shorter or Imanaga and Steele, and, in turn, expect the Cubs to aggressively deploy the bullpen (and maybe even a piggyback starter) in those two games. That makes sense from a health and rest standpoint, but also just as a matter of competitiveness: after those two games, you’re going to be able to give guys additional rest before the Stateside opener.
More on Imanaga’s start yesterday and his readiness this spring:
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