Astros defied history with their successful pursuit of Tatsuya Imai

The signing of Tatsuya Imai is important for several reasons. First and foremost, the Astros have added an incredible piece to their rotation that's now looking like one of the best in the division. Scouting reports from early in the offseason suggest that with MLB pitching development, he could kick into an even higher gear, but as is, he's poised to be a solid middle-of-the-rotation arm.

His impact may be short-lived, given the opt-outs after each of the first two years, but at the very least, Houston will get some starting pitching depth for the time being. However, the broader impact of this acquisition could be even more beneficial for the organization in the long term.

The signing of Tatsuya Imai suggests the Astros are open to exploring more NPB talent in the future

While other teams have taken advantage of the best baseball talent out of Japan for years, the Astros haven't been quite as proactive on that front. The likes of Nomo, Ichiro, Matsuzaka, Matsui, Darvish, Ohtani, and many others have had careers prolific enough to pave the way for future Japanese talent to cross over into MLB, but Houston has rarely been involved. In fact, many were taken by surprise after the deal with Imai was announced, since the Astros were far from likely contenders for his services.

Even within their own division, they have a lot to catch up on. They're the last team in the AL West to extend a free agent contract to a player posted by NPB.

• Seattle Mariners: Mac Suzuki, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Ichiro Suzuki, Kenji Johjima, Munenori Kawasaki, Hisashi Iwakuma, Yusei Kikuchi
• Texas Rangers: Kazuo Fukumori, Yoshinori Tateyama, Yu Darvish
• Athletics: Keiichi Yabu, Shintaro Fujinami
• Los Angeles Angels: Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Shohei Ohtani

Although they've never signed a player directly from NPB, they have had a total of three Japanese players. Middle infielder Kazuo Matsui played a total of 255 games for the team from 2008 - 2010 and posted an 83 OPS+ with 0.9 rWAR. Outfielder Nori Aoki posted a 91 OPS+ and 0.7 rWAR over 70 games in 2017 and was traded to the Blue Jays as part of a package for Francisco Liriano. Finally, Yusei Kikuchi was a trade deadline acquisition in 2024 and posted an effective 2.70 ERA over ten starts.

This winter has been one of the biggest for Japanese free agents in recent history. Although the contracts have been smaller than initially expected, it's clear that teams around MLB are taking notice of what NPB has to offer. For the Astros, Tatsuya Imai could be the first of many to bring their talents from Japan to Houston.