Could Blue Jays division rivals add significant upgrade with international star?

Yet another standout arm from Japan is heading to MLB. Tatsuya Imai, one of the NPB’s best pitchers in recent memory, is officially being posted. Imai will enter the posting process on November 19, agent Scott Boras said Wednesday. This will open the 45-day window for the 27-year-old to sign with a Major League Baseball team.

According to Francys Romero, the New York Yankees are favourites to land the next Japanese star, which would make the AL East a whole lot scarier. Imai has everything working in his favor, positioning him for a significant contract, potentially in the range of what we saw with Yoshinobu Yamamoto or Kodai Senga.

For the Seibu Lions, Imai had a record of 10-5 this season with a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts compared to just 45 walks across 163.2 innings pitched. The right-hander has a few powerful weapons, including an above average fastball and slider that leaks down instead of right to left, similar to Trey Yesavage's slider which has been a nasty strikeout pitch for him. Imai's 27.8% strikeout rate led the NPB, paired with an elite 7.0% walk rate.

Could Blue Jays division rivals make a significant rotation upgrade with international star

Against right-handed hitters, Imai builds around a fastball–slider combo. The four-seamer comes in around 95–99 mph and is thrown 53.5% of the time, mostly functioning as a strike pitch with a nearly 70% strike rate. It doesn’t miss too many bats (12.4% SwStr), which is why his devastating slider carries so much weight.

Thrown almost 40% of the time, his north-to-south slider dominates with a 53% whiff rate, and strong zone presence (about 40%) to keep hitters honest. His secondaries, the splitter and vulcan, show impressive chase rates in the ranges of 33–42% range, even though he uses them minimally.

While facing off against left-handed hitters, the mix becomes more varied and more reliant on off-speed pitches. His fastball usage drops to 42.8%, while the changeup jumps to 16% and becomes one of his strongest pitches, holding lefties to a 40% whiff rate with nearly 60% strikes.

The slider remains challenging for lefties batters (36% whiff), but his splitter is the real difference maker here, posting a 45% whiff rate. It also sports a elite chase numbers above 30%, giving him a true strikeout pitch against lefties that pairs well with the changeup.

Imai has been pitching in the NPB since 2017, and he's improved drastically throughout his years, especially when it comes to command. In 2025, he displayed a 2.5 walk-per-nine, which is the lowest of his carrer, as in the last few years he's put up a 5.1 in 2022, 4.1 in 2023, and 3.6 in 2024. The news that Imai will be posted comes less than a week after Japanese star third baseman Munetaka Murakami began his posting process.

Murakami has the single-season home run record for a Japanese player in NPB to his name, a lefty bat that would be a massive get for any team and a player who's also been linked to the New York Yankees.

With the Yankees linked as frontrunners for Tatsuya Imai, his posting could directly impact the Blue Jays. If they added a pitcher with a 1.92 ERA and elite strikeout-to-walk numbers, New York would get a significant major rotation boost instantly, making an already difficult AL East even tougher.

With the Blue Jays still needing stability behind Gausman, Yesavage, and Bieber, they most likely will be in the running for his services. Not only will they give Imai a long look to improve their own staff, but to prevent a polished, MLB-ready arm from strengthening a key division rival.