It had been 19 years since the Houston Astros signed a Japanese free agent to a contract.
Right-handed pitcher Tatsuya Imai ended that drought last week, becoming the first player in franchise history to sign a deal directly from Nippon Professional Baseball. Imai’s agreement with the Astros is for three years and $54 million, including opt-outs after the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
The previous Japanese player to sign with Houston was second baseman Kazuo Matsui in 2007, but he already had five years of Major League experience under his belt with the New York Mets and Colorado Rockies. The other two Japanese players to play their home games at Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park, formerly Enron field, include outfielder Nori Aoki and left-hander Yusei Kikuchi.
Both Aoki and Kikuchi enjoyed careers in NPB, but like Matsui, they spent time with other MLB organizations before stints with the Astros.
Daikin Park is named for Daikin, an HVAC company based in Osaka, Japan. Astros owner Jim Crane negotiated a deal to have Houston’s home stadium don the name “Daikin” in big letters above the right field scoreboard for 15 seasons, an agreement began this past season.
Crane told The Athletic’s Chandler Rome that Imai’s contract will not be the Astros’ last free agent splash in Japan. The organization wants to be aggressive with other moves in the future.
“We’ll be moving pretty fast in Asia and continue to focus on that and evaluate all the talent over there so we can hopefully get some more of them over here to play and deepen the team,” Crane said in his conversation with Rome.
“I think you can really see (in) the Asian market, the players coming out of there are really equivalent or better than some of the guys we have here. It was kind of untapped, I think, until we had the Ohtani effect, and I think a lot of people focused on it. We’ll be laser-focused moving forward.”
Imai has a few aspirations with the Astros, mainly winning a World Series. He made his intentions clear during the winter that he preferred to join a club without other Japanese players, immediately ruling out West Coast teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
The contract he signed will allow him to test the free agent market next year, too, if he so chooses. Imai’s three-year pact and slugger Munetaka Murakami’s two-year deal with the Chicago White Sox seem to be “prove it” contracts, with almost no well-known baseball journalists and insiders connecting them to their new respective clubs.
Imai has already made his presence known in Houston, pictured at the Texans game on Sunday afternoon and the Rockets game on Monday night. Both Houston-based teams won their contests with Imai in attendance. Who knows, maybe the 27-year-old is a good luck charm.
He’s a busy man who might be a part of a six-man rotation to begin the year. NPB starters typically get five days of rest between outings, so manager Joe Espada using an additional arm could help Imai acclimate to an MLB workload.
Perhaps Imai’s commitment to the Astros will help Crane’s goal of staying active on the scouting front in Japan.
Photo: Tatsuya Imai, a right-handed pitcher from Japan, poses for photos after a press conference in Houston, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, after signing a contract with the Houston Astros. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
