{"id":729220,"date":"2026-04-15T07:58:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/729220\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T07:58:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:58:14","slug":"astros-tatsuya-imai-having-trouble-adjusting-to-american-lifestyle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/729220\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros’ Tatsuya Imai having trouble adjusting to ‘American lifestyle’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Astros\u2019 Tatsuya Imai is blaming \u201cthe American lifestyle\u201d for his early big league struggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Japanese right-hander, who signed a three-year deal worth up to $63 million<\/a> with Houston over the offseason after eight seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, was recently put on the injured list with arm fatigue<\/a>, and he said he may know the culprit.<\/p>\n

Imai said through an interpreter on Tuesday that not being \u201cable to adjust to the American lifestyle, other than baseball. Baseball and outside of baseball. That\u2019s probably the reason,\u201d for his throwing arm troubles, according to The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some subtle changes have made it hard for him to acclimate, Imai added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TatsuyaHouston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai walks back to the dugout after being taken out of the game during the first inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Seattle. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, the travel is different from Japan,\u201d Imai continued. \u201cThe timing when the players eat. In Japan, when they get back to the hotel, they eat their dinner. Here, the players eat at the stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imai, 27, has been awful in three outings for the Astros thus far this season, allowing seven earned runs and walking 11 batters in just 8 \u2154 innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In his last start on Friday, Imai allowed three runs in just the \u2153 of an inning after surrendering one hit and four walks while also hitting a batter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He complained about the weather<\/a> \u2014 mid-60s and windy \u2014 and that the pitcher\u2019s mound at T-Mobile Park in Seattle was \u201creally hard\u201d after the disastrous start.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Japan, there\u2019s only six stadiums we go around during the season,\u201d Imai said, per The Athletic. \u201cBut here, we have to go to 30 stadiums and adjust to the mound in their stadium. That\u2019s what I have to figure out, how to adjust to those mounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s still early, the Astros had hoped Imai, a three-time All-Star in Japan, would be a key part of their starting rotation this year and going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"HoustonHouston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai reacts after allowing a run against the Seattle Mariners on a wild pitch during the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Seattle. AP<\/p>\n

Last season with the Seibu Tigers, Imai posted a 1.92 ERA across 24 starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a team, the Astros are off to a slow start in 2026, sitting at 6-11 heading into Tuesday\u2019s play, which is the worst record in baseball to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Astros\u2019 Tatsuya Imai is blaming \u201cthe American lifestyle\u201d for his early big league struggles.\u00a0 The Japanese right-hander,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":729221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2382,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-729220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-houston-astros","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116407665752597897","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}