Pitching expert noticed a Tatsuya Imai change that only adds to growing list of questions

When Tatsuya Imai returned to a major league mound for the first time in a month, the Houston Astros tried to simplify things as much as possible for him. The mandate was to throw strikes; nothing more, nothing less. One would think, then, that Imai would have relied heavily on his four-seam fastball. The initial reports had him doing just that, as the classifications of 50 of the 80 pitches he threw were reportedly traditional heaters.

But analyst Lance Brozdowski caught something interesting in Imai's grip. It wasn't four-seamers he was throwing, but two-seamers instead. It seems as if Baseball Savant has retroactively gone back and corrected the pitch classification, now counting 50 of his 80 offerings as sinkers.

Imai struggled yet again. Only 46 of his 80 pitches were strikes over the four innings he logged. He threw that sinker and his slider exclusively. Nothing else. No four-seamers, no splitters, no changeups. He let up five hits and allowed three walks, while hitting two batters. He allowed six earned runs. The Seattle Mariners teed off, posting an average exit velocity of 96.6 miles per hour.

The strange thing here is, if the mission was truly just to throw strikes and figure out the rest later, why go with a sinker that dives down and to the arm side over a more traditional straight fastball? Given his issues with command, even during his minor league rehab starts, one would think that focusing on location over movement would have been paramount. Of course, that's just one of the curious developments we've seen with Imai's pitch mix so far this season.

Struggling Astros starter Tatsuya Imai's pitch mix has been questionable all season

There were three main draws to Imai over the offseason as far as his arsenal is concerned. The first is that his four-seam fastball was supposed to be good, sitting in the mid 90s and tickling triple digits when he needed it.

The second tantalizing proposition was his "wrong-way" slider that many thought would be his best weapon. While Imai throws the slider more than any other pitch in general (though not during his last start), it has routinely been hammered. The offering has yielded a 47.1% hard-hit rate as hitters bat .286 with a .536 slugging percentage.

Baseball America (subscription required) noted in its scouting report that Imai was like most Japanese pitchers, possessing a deep arsenal. The clear third pitch after the four-seamer and the slider was supposedly his splitter, which was supposed to be a real whiff generator against lefties.

Instead, Imai has thrown just seven splitters all season, a two percent utilization rate. Lefties are hitting only .200 against Imai, but he's issued 11 walks to opposite-handed hitters this season, giving them a .459 on-base percentage.

Imai supposedly also has a regular changeup and a curveball as well, but like the splitter, those pitches have been nonexistent.

He doesn't have confidence in many parts of his repertoire at this point. While some of that is to be expected, this latest performance seems to indicate that the four-seamer has been added to the growing list of pitches he's not confident in.

That will make it hard to throw strikes, and it simply doesn't bode well for him snapping out of this funk or proving he's not a bust. If Imai is really going to be just a two-pitch pitcher, perhaps working out of the pen is the solution. It's incredibly hard to succeed as a starter like that, and in the pen, the command issues can be somewhat mitigated. That doesn't seem to be on the horizon for now, but you never know when Houston might say it has seen enough of Imai the starter.

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