One last history-making statistic from Shota Imanaga's amazing Cubs rookie season

The Chicago Cubs' record when Shota Imanaga started and when he did not tells you just how impactful the left-hander was for the team in his rookie season.

• W/L in Imanaga starts: 23-6 (.793)
• W/L in all other starts: 60-73 (.451)

Despite making the difficult NPB-to-MLB jump, Imanaga didn't miss a beat this year, more or less carrying the dominance he had for years in Japan with him into the first year of his big-league career, emerging as the team's stopper atop the rotation. His elite control helped his game translate almost seamlessly, evidenced by this ridiculous stat shared by Christopher Kamka on X.

Shota Imanaga joins a trio of Hall of Famers with accomplishment

With 29 starts and just 28 walks on the year, Imanaga is just the sixth pitcher in Cubs history to start at least 20 games and have fewer walks than starts, joining a trio of Hall of Famers in Grover Alexander, Fergie Jenkins and Dennis Eckersley, as well as Doug Bird and Jon Lieber.

Lieber accomplished the feat in 2002, on the heels of his 20-win 2001 campaign, making 21 starts and walking only a dozen hitters. Looking back at Jenkins' 1971 season, when he threw 325 innings and walked only 37, well, let's just say it's a reminder the game has changed a lot over the last 50+ years.

Known more for his time in Philly, Grover Alexander - a three-time 30-game winner - spent almost half of his 20-year career with the Cubs, and had more than two times as many strikeouts as walks in his Cooperstown-bound career. He accomplished this twice in Chicago, in both 1923 and 1925. Last, but not least, Bird pitched just one full season with the Cubs, going 9-14 with a 5.14 ERA in 35 starts during the 1982 season, walking 30 but striking out just 71 in 191 innings of work.

Imanaga led Cubs starters in almost every statistical measure: wins, ERA, starts (tied with Javier Assad), innings pitched, strikeouts and WHIP. He also led all Cubs pitchers in home runs allowed (27), something that was singled out as a cause for concern prior to the year. Thanks to his ability to prevent self-inflicted damage via the walk, though, he was able to overcome the long balls and thrive on the mound.