Shota Imanaga reveals the reason for his early Cubs' spring training success

Shota Imanaga turned heads with his 2026 spring training debut. After the Chicago Cubs' starting pitcher finished the 2025 season as an afterthought on the team's pitching staff, Imanaga flashed an uptick in velocity in his first Cactus League start of the year. All of his pitches showed increased velocity, and lend credence to the idea that his struggles at the end of last year were tied to a mechanical issue with his delivery.

For the first time in his playing career, Imanaga suffered a hamstring injury. Once Imanaga returned, there was a clear dip in his velocity and lack of movement with his pitches. That left him vulnerable to the home-run ball, and the reason why Craig Counsell couldn't trust him in Game 5 of the NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers.

If nothing else, it gave Imanaga and the Cubs a blueprint for what to work on during the offseason. The work seemed to pay off with an impressive return to the mound during spring training, but doubters remain.

The long-held belief is that radar guns can be hot in spring training, and not exactly tell the full story of a pitcher's velocity. True or not, Imanaga went into detail about his offseason work while speaking with the folks at Foul Territory. He revealed that the focus was on ensuring that the planting of his right foot led to the appropriate transfer of energy.

Shota Imanaga's focus on mechanics could be the key to his 2026 bounce-back.

Even when Imanaga was at his best, he was never a pitcher who thrived with the ability to blow his fastball past hitters. The movement of his pitches will certainly be the key to keeping the ball in the ballpark this year, considering there were far too many times at the end of last season that he was leaving his pitches in the middle zone.

With that said, an underlying concern was that Imanaga was barely breaking 90 mph with his fastball as his struggles were continuing. It was a sign that, mechanically, something was wrong with his delivery.

We're still a far way away from saying that Imanaga is fixed and can return to being a top-of-the-rotation arm for the Cubs, but it's safe to say we are moving away from the idea that he will be as bad as he was at the end of last year.