Chicago Cubs facing Imanaga dilemma after pitch-tipping adjustment

The Chicago Cubs, amid a pitching dilemma centering around a struggling bullpen, finds itself facing another problem ahead of postseason play.

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The team has to decide on what to do with Shota Imanaga.

The Japanese lefty is on an excellent stretch of outings this month, posting a 2.00 ERA through 3 starts and 18 innings. Overall, Imanaga has the most innings of any Cubs starter (168.1) and the lowest ERA among pitchers with 12 or more starts (3.80).

On Wednesday, against the Atlanta Braves, the 32-year-old turned in a stellar performance, allowing 1 earned run through 6 innings while striking out 8.

With Chicago likely headed into the playoffs as a Wild Card team, a decision has to be made on whether Imanaga—who had fallen out of manager Craig Counsell’s circle of trust during last season’s playoffs—will be given another chance to prove himself in postseason play.

As of right now, most analysts are assuming a 3-man Wild Card series rotation of Clay Holmes, Matthew Boyd, and Kevin Gausman. But Imanaga is making a case for himself to be in that rotation, possibly instead of Gausman.

With his game not likely to translate well to a bullpen role, this could mean that he’d either be in the playoff rotation or not be on the postseason roster at all. Even if the Cubs decided on a 4-man playoff rotation after the Wild Card series, Imanaga will still find himself in competition with David Peterson, Javier Assad, and possibly Colin Rea for a rotation slot.

Tipping his pitches

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One point in his favor, though, is an adjustment made to his delivery that nullifies an apparent tendency to tip pitches.

In the third inning of Wednesday’s game, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy made a mound visit to huddle with Imanaga and catcher Carson Kelly. Marquee Sports Network analyst Jim Deshaies wondered aloud whether the Cubs had noticed Imanaga tipping his pitches and the Braves picking up on that.

Matthew Trueblood of North Side Baseball went into further detail regarding the pitcher’s tendency:

“The issue came when Imanaga reached into his glove to grip the ball. Setting up in the stretch (with his body facing first base), Imanaga starts with his left hand dangling at his hip. Once he settles on a pitch selection, he brings his hands together right in front of his belt, then brings them up to his chest. That sequence contained a slight giveaway early in his outing Wednesday night. When he was preparing to throw the splitter, he tensed his arms a bit more as he brought the hands together, and the pause at the belt was slightly longer. When he was throwing his fastball or sweeper, that pause wasn’t there.”

Questions to be answered

The open questions here are whether he’s been doing this before this last game and, if so, how much has it affected his performance over the course of a season that has had its ups and downs.

With that problem apparently addressed, will Imanaga be more consistent from here on out? The Cubs will have just a couple more starts from him to make that determination—and then to decide what they want to do with him in the playoffs.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-shota-imanaga-playoffs-pitch-tipping-adjustment/