Shota Imanaga News: Cubs rookie earns first Pitch Hand Award in 2024 after brilliant start

Shota Imanaga's brilliant start to the season has already netted him an award. The rookie is the first recipient of the Pitch Hand Award in 2024. This unofficial award from MLB Network is for the pitcher who kept his pitching hand the strongest through the time period.

Robert Flores, the host who gave out the first of the monthly award, said:

"The winner is ... Shota Imanaga! By the way, his 0.98 ERA, third-lowest among any pitcher in his first five starts in the Wild Card era. He also has the lowest ERA by any Cubs pitcher in his first starts."

Flores noted that several players were up for the award. That includes Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Berrios (1.23 ERA), Boston Red Sox star Kutter Crawford (0.66 ERA overall at one point during the month), Philadelphia Phillies' Ranger Suarez (40 Ks), Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal (41 Ks) and Imanaga.

The Chicago Cubs ace has pitched extremely well so far. He has a 9.11 K/9 rate and an awe-inducing 0.98 BB/9 rate. He has only given up 0.65 home runs per nine innings en route to a 0.98 ERA. A 2.40 FIP and 0.9 fWAR are also brilliant numbers.

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Shota Imanaga's Cubs off to a good start; best odds among NL Central to make postseason

The Chicago Cubs were almost a playoff team last season. They decided to go after it in the offseason by bringing back Cody Bellinger and hiring Craig Counsell to be their manager. Shota Imanaga was an under-the-radar move that falls under that category, too.

Shota Imanaga has been an ace for the Cubs

He's been great, with a lot of excellent metrics. This has helped the Cubs to an 18-12 record, leaving them only a half-game behind the NL Central leaders. According to Fangraphs, they have the highest probability of reaching the postseason of any Central team (58.2%).

Imanaga is either the leader or among the best pitchers the Cubs have for a variety of statistical categories (ERA, BB/9, fWAR, LOB%). He has been nothing short of an ace and everything they had hoped for when signing him.