After starting the season with unbelievable stats, something that has never been done before, Shota Imanaga, for the first time this season, showed vulnerability and revealed to the world that he is human and not Superman. A .84 ERA to begin the season is no easy feat to achieve. It simply has never been done before. No matter what, he is in the record books.
Part of the struggle for his start against the Brewers was, I think, his long rest time between starts. It had been eleven days since his last start. It is easy to lose your rhythm as an athlete when that happens. As the great Sir Isaac Newton said, "A body in motion stays in motion." Just as it is true in physics, it is just as true in an athlete. This is not as evident in baseball because the season is gruesomely long and players go into slumps all the time, even the best players who have been playing every day. Too many variables need to be considered for things to work out. Sometimes players play partly healthy. Sometimes, they play with an injury. Let's take Shohei Ohtani, for example, who has been playing with a bruised hamstring. Well, naturally, he struggled. Only now, in the game against the Mets (5/29/2024) he hit a home run and gathered a three RBI game.
In sports like basketball, a player who has been cold at the beginning of the game can be red hot towards the end of the game and still become the hero. And, you know what? People immediately forget the struggle at the beginning of the game. Starting pitchers do not have that luxury. A bad start can put doubts and gather skeptics faster than you can say, "Tomato."
In his next start, Shota Imanaga will bounce back. He may struggle through a start or two, but what he has shown throughout his career in the NPB, is his dedication to honing his skills. This made him one of the top pitchers in all of Japan.
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