Star Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai would perfectly fit in with the Giants.
The right-handed ace of the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball, who recently was posted and has until Jan. 2 to sign with an MLB team, declared that he has no interest in joining San Francisco’s archrival Los Angeles Dodgers, in a recent interview with former big-league pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka on the “Hodo Station” show.
“Of course, I’d enjoy playing alongside [Shohei] Ohtani, [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, and [Rōki] Sasaki, but winning against a team like that and becoming a world champion would be the most valuable thing in my life,” Imai told Matsuzaka (h/t MLB.com’s Michael Clair and Ayako Oikawa).
“If anything, I’d rather take them down.”
That mentality must intrigue Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey.
Imai, 27, is coming off a dominant season in which he posted a 1.92 ERA and 178 strikeouts over 163 2/3 innings. He would be an enticing addition to any team, but it would be fascinating to see Imai enter the big leagues with San Francisco.
Regardless of where Imai lands, one thing is certain: he doesn’t want to help the Dodgers — and their international stars — win a third consecutive World Series title.
“If there were another Japanese player on the same team, I could just ask them about anything, right?” Imai said. “But that’s actually not what I’m looking for. In a way, I want to experience that sense of survival. When I come face-to-face with cultural differences, I want to see how I can overcome them on my own — that’s part of what I’m excited about.”
If Imai wants to take down the league’s best, then joining the Dodgers’ biggest rival — the Giants — makes sense.
He would get to face Los Angeles multiple times per season in heated divisional battles and would have the opportunity to test out his heater against the reigning NL MVP.
“I really want to see how much my fastball holds up against [Ohtani] — to test myself by throwing it to him,” Imai said.
Imai has around 40 days to make a decision. Time will tell if he chooses to don the Orange and Black.
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