HOUSTON -- The Astros announced baseball’s first big splash of 2026 on Friday by inking Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai to a three-year contract that includes player opt-outs after the the '26 and '27 seasons.
The deal is worth $54 million, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand. Imai can earn $3 million in incentives if he throws 100 innings in 2026, according to Feinsand. If he does, Imai's base salary becomes $21 million in '27 and '28. He had longer-term deals with lower AAVs on the table, though he chose to go to Houston on the shorter-term, higher-AAV deal with opt-outs.
Imai was posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball club, the Saitama Seibu Lions, on Nov. 19, opening MLB teams' 45-day window to negotiate a contract with him. He’ll join Kaz Matsui, Nori Aoki and Yusei Kikuchi as the only Japanese players to have played for Houston.
The signing underscores the Astros’ desire to be more competitive in signing players from Japan and Korea. A month ago, the Astros signed free-agent right-hander Ryan Weiss to a one-year deal after he pitched the past two seasons in Korea. Imai and Weiss are two of four starting pitchers acquired this offseason by Houston, who is expected to lose workhorse lefty Framber Valdez in free agency.
The Astros also acquired Pirates right-hander Mike Burrows in a three-team trade on Dec. 19, and signed right-hander Nate Pearson to a one-year deal in October. Houston’s rotation will be anchored by Hunter Brown, with Cristian Javier, Spencer Arrighetti, Lance McCullers Jr. and Jason Alexander among those returning behind him.
Houston has built some quality starting pitching depth following a season in which its rotation was ravaged by injuries.
The Astros had three pitchers undergo Tommy John surgery last year (Ronel Blanco, Hayden Wesneski and Brandon Walter), while Arrighetti missed most of the season with thumb and elbow injuries. McCullers landed on the IL three times after his return from major shoulder surgery. Luis Garcia made two starts after returning from TJ surgery and wound up being released following a second elbow reconstruction.
Imai, 27, was a three-time All-Star in NPB, including in both 2024 and ’25. He has emerged as an ace-level pitcher in Japan over the past several years -- he's posted an ERA under 3 and struck out more than a batter per inning in each of the past three seasons. But the ’25 season was arguably the best of his career. Imai went 10-5 with a career-best 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 163 2/3 innings and pitched in a combined no-hitter for the Lions.
If it wasn't 2025, it was ’24, when Imai went 10-8 with a 2.34 ERA and set career highs with 187 strikeouts and 173 1/3 innings pitched.
Overall, in his eight seasons with the Lions, Imai had a 58-45 record, 3.15 ERA and 907 strikeouts in 963 2/3 innings pitched. Since 2023, though, his ERA is just 2.18 and he's averaged 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
"Every season, I have played with the goal of winning the league championship and the Japan Series, and that ambition will not change with a new team," Imai said earlier in the offseason. "I will continue to compete with a strong desire to win and do my best to contribute to my team’s success."
Imai's two main pitches are his four-seam fastball and slider. His four-seamer averaged 94.9 mph in 2025 -- slightly above the average for an MLB right-handed starter (94.6 mph) -- and can reach the upper 90s. His slider averaged 86.2 mph and generated a 46 percent swing-and-miss rate.
Imai also throws a good changeup, mainly against lefties, which averaged 85.5 mph in 2025 with a 41 percent swing-and-miss rate. He mixes in a splitter and curveball as well, and added a new "Vulcan" changeup with a wider grip during the 2025 season.
Imai was one of several high-profile Japanese players to be posted this offseason, including superstar sluggers Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto. Imai was regarded as the top pitcher coming from NPB to MLB for the 2026 season.
At MLB's General Managers Meetings in November, Imai's agent, Scott Boras, compared him to Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto while noting how talented NPB pitchers like him have become stars in MLB. Yamamoto was named World Series MVP in 2025 and was a Cy Young Award finalist.
"Certainly, he's done everything that Yamamoto's done in NPB," Boras said of Imai.
Supervising Club Reporter Brian McTaggart has covered the Astros since 2004, and for MLB.com since 2009.
