[Official] Ah! Eventually, I got burned. 'Surprise arm injury bad news' → Finally, I left the battle line 'How much is your body'...' I can't believe only the starters are injured

*This content was translated by AI.

In the end, I got sick. Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai (28), who plays for the Houston Astros in the U.S. Major League Baseball (MLB), has been listed on the injured list (IL) due to arm fatigue.

The Major League's official website MLB.com said on the 14th (Korea time) that "Houston club registered Imai, who complained of fatigue in his arm, on the 15-day injured list." Houston called pitchers J.P. Princes and Colton Gordon and infielder Shay Whitcomb, who played under the national flag, to the first team.

The media said, "After the game against the Seattle Mariners on the 11th, I showed signs of fatigue in my arm. At that time, he was pulled out after catching only one out count. In particular, I had a hard time throwing strikes," he explained.

Imai started against Seattle on the 11th and faced eight batters, but only one out count was caught. He left the mound with one hit, four walks and three runs (three earned) that hit his body without striking out.

At that time, there were various stories about the reason for the disturbance, but in the end, it was found that the arm was in poor condition.

Houston manager Joe Espada said, "Imai will be tested more on the 15th."

Imai is a right-hander from the Japanese national team ace who played as the top starting pitcher in the Japanese professional baseball (NPB). In the 2025 season, he pitched in 24 games, recording an overwhelming 10-5 record with a 1.92 ERA, a 0.176 hit rate, and a 0.89 on-base-per-inning allowance (WHIP). Imai, who won 10 games for three consecutive seasons from 2023 to last season. He was ranked second in the Pacific League in this category with 178 strikeouts. He played in the NPB All-Star Game three times and was also a pitcher for the Japanese national team at the 2023 Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) held in his country.

In the end, Imai knocked on the door of the big league through the posting system ahead of this season. The team that really wanted him is Houston. Imai finally achieved his dream by signing a three-year contract with Houston in January, up to $63 million (about 9.1 billion won). In addition, it is reported that it has the authority to exercise the opt-out (a clause that can be broken due to the exercise of FA rights during the contract period) every year.

However, Imai rarely found himself this season. He took the mound in three games and marked a 7.27 ERA with one win and no loss. While playing a total of eight ⅔ innings, he had seven hits (one homer), 11 walks, 13 strikeouts, seven runs (seven earned), a batting average of 0.219, and a WHIP of 2.08. The strike rate was only 54 percent. In the game against Seattle on the 11th, he had only 17 strikes out of 37 pitches. And this time, he took a break from putting his name on the injured list due to arm fatigue.

Recently, Houston has been struggling with many injuries in the starting lineup. Another starting resource, Hunter Brown, and Christian Javier, were also out of the lineup due to injuries. On top of that, key shortstop Jeremy Peña was also listed on the injured list on the same day as Imai. Peña felt uncomfortable in the back of his knee against Seattle on the 11th. He then moved to the hospital and was diagnosed with a hamstring (back muscle of the thigh) sprain as a result of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Peña made his big league debut for Houston in the 2022 season. In the 2025 season, he played in 125 games with a batting average of 0.304, 17 home runs, 62 RBIs and 20 steals, giving him the honor of being selected as the first All-Star in his career.

However, this season has not been smooth from the start. In March, he was selected to represent the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) tournament, and suffered a major injury during an exhibition game called a right ring finger fracture. In the end, he didn't even make the WBC stage. Although included in Houston's opening roster, he did not play in every game.

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*This content was translated by AI.