Shota Imanaga set to rejoin the Cubs after latest dominant rehab start

Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga embarked on the latest stage of his rehabilitation Friday, getting the start for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs and showing he's ready to go in a shutdown outing.

After making starts in the Arizona Complex League, Imanaga took things a step further against the Nashville Sounds, going 4 1/3 innings without allowing a run. Imanaga, who has been on the injured list since May 5 with a hamstring strain, fanned eight batters on 72 pitches, throwing 50 for strikes.

Shota Imanaga is ready to rejoin the Cubs after over a month on the IL

Imanaga was dominant in all senses of the word, only allowing two hits and two walks while fanning eight, with one coming via review, courtesy of the pitch review rule currently being tested in the minor leagues.

The Chicago southpaw topped out at 91.2 MPH on his fastball while appearing comfortable throughout the outing. Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters on Thursday that the team would evaluate where they stood after Imanaga's start with Iowa.

Evidently, the team liked what it saw, as Counsell said ahead of Saturday's contest that Imanaga will be joining the big league club this week in St. Louis, confirming his next start would be at the major league level.

"Everything went great," Counsell said. "He did what we hoped he would do. He's in a position to be ready so he's going to join us in St. Louis and we'll figure out the next steps."

Imanaga's return comes at the perfect time, as the rotation may be dealing with more injury uncertainty after starter Matthew Boyd hit the ground after catching a line drive on the mound in the fifth inning on Friday. Boyd did not return for the sixth but was optimistic after the game that they avoided an injury scare.

Prior to the injury, Imanaga had picked up right where he left off in his brilliant 2024 rookie campaign. He opened the 2025 season with a 2.82 ERA in his first eight starts, and he'd worked around a sharp drop in his strikeout rate fairly effectively. It'll be interesting to see if the strikeouts he piled up during his rehab starts carry forward as he re-joins the big-league staff but, regardless, his return is good news for the first-place Cubs.