Japanese star pitcher drawing comparisons that Rangers would be dumb to overlook

Major League Baseball has seen an influx of overseas talent flooding into the sport at a high rate since the the mid-1990s thanks to the league's market investment and the rise of stardom of players like Shohei Ohtani.

This winter is no different, as five of the offseason's most prized free agents coming from the Nippon Professional Baseball League, including 27-year-old pitcher Tatsuya Imai.

Imai has spent the last nine seasons in Japan, beginning as a 19-year-old with the Seibu Lions. In 2025, he recorded a 1.92 ERA, 178 strikeouts, 45 walks, 0.89 WHIP and a 10-5 record in 163.2 innings of work.

Imai compares to some of the league's best arms

Imai is expected to be one of the most highly touted free agent arms this offseason. His pedigree and talent is generating serious interest from several high profile MLB organizations to add to their rotaion for the 2026 season.

According to MLB.com's David Adler, Imai has the right pitch arsenal and approach to follow the career trajectory of so many of his fellow countryman, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani.

As far as pitch mix goes, Imai's fastball, slider, changeup combination is the trio of his best pitches. He throws them from a low, sidearm release point and the slider and changeup generate nearly over 40% whiff rate to both righties and lefties. These are parallels to a pitcher the Rangers are extremley familiar with in Seattle's Luis Castillo.

Another familiar arm to Texas is Max Scherzer and Imai approaches hitters similar to Mad Max. With over 90% of his pitches to righties being fastball and sliders with his main approach to lefties being fastballs and changeups. In 2025, Scherzer also attacked righties and lefties the same way.

In terms of his actual pitch mix and movement, his each pitch compares to other greats. He has off-speed pitches like Paul Skenes that generates a high swing-and-miss rate, a 95 mph fastball comparable to Minnesota's Joe Ryan and a splitter as effective as Toronto's Trey Yesavage.

Rangers need a player of Imai's caliber but price is too much

The Rangers are in a weird spot right now with little wiggle room in the payroll. With roughly $45 to $55 million money to spend after all the team's arbitration cases have been settled, they will likely forgo any major signings.

Imai is projected to be one of the top billers with reports of his deal being in the range of $114 to $154 million over six or seven years. That would put Imai's AAV at $19 to $22 million.

Technically, Texas would have the money to spend but it only makes sense if they were only needing to fill a rotation roster spot. Instead, they also need a second catcher and four to six bullpen arms.

While the finances don't justify the signing, the future of the Rangers' rotation with Imai at the helm alongside a few youngsters in the organization makes Texas an force from the pitcher's side.