5 Chicago Cubs who could win Rookie of the Year in 2024

5 Cubs candidates for RoY in ‘24 - 2. Shota Imanaga

Freshly signed to the Chicago Cubs on a four-year deal, Shota Imanaga's pitch arsenal is a component of his game that can see him easily excel in the majors in 2024. He wouldn't be the first pitcher recently to come over for Japan and have a dominant year. Like Kodai Senga last season, who put up an impressive 2.98 ERA in his debut MLB season, Imanaga has seen a lot of success in Japan and will look for it to translate.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will draw all the attention, but Imanaga, too, will have quite the debut season. His riding fastball is beautiful, and he possesses three plus pitches. Given the Cubs' pitching infrastructure being what it is today, I wouldn't be surprised to see them tweak Imanaga's arsenal slightly, especially with pitch utilization rates.

The good thing about him using his fastball at north of a 50% clip is that with so much ride, a batter will know it's coming, but it still makes it so difficult to hit the ball. Imanaga has the filthy command needed to succeed in any league, and it will be interesting to see how he does in his first year.