Shota achieves another first for Cubs rookie

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- The Cubs have had plenty of standout rookies throughout the franchise’s storied history, but none garnered even a single vote in balloting for a Cy Young Award. That changed with lefty Shota Imanaga’s impressive performance this past season.

With his fifth-place finish for the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, Imanaga became the first rookie in Cubs history listed among the vote-getters for an accolade that dates back to 1956. And Imanaga was named on 16 of 30 ballots, receiving votes for third (seven), fourth (eight) and fifth place (one) for his first tour in the Majors after his career in Japan.

“You think about a guy coming over here,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at the end of last season, “you assume that there’s going to be transition issues that lead to inconsistency, or maybe a slow start or fatigue at the end. The totality of what he’s done is actually, to me, probably the most surprising thing.

“He’s had consistency. He didn’t have transition issues. He dealt with all those things exceptionally well.”

Braves lefty Chris Sale won the NL Cy Young Award, with Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, Paul Skenes of the Pirates, Dylan Cease of the Padres and Imanaga rounding out the top five finishers for the league’s top pitching honor. Imanaga also placed fourth in voting for the NL Rookie of the Year, which went to Skenes for his electric debut season in Pittsburgh.

Across 29 starts for the North Siders, Imanaga finished 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 174 strikeouts, compared to just 28 walks, in 173 1/3 innings. His 6.2 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 80.2% left-on-base rate led the NL. Imanaga also finished second and fourth, respectively, among qualified pitchers in the NL in walk rate (4.0%) and strikeout-minus-walk rate (21.0%).

The Cubs went 23-6 in Imanaga’s starts and he was a part of six shutouts. That included on Sept. 4, when his seven innings began a combined no-hitter against the Pirates. That marked the first no-no for the Cubs at Wrigley Field since 1972. He also logged a record-low ERA (0.84) for a pitcher’s first nine career starts (excluding openers since 1913).

“He’s a learner. He wants to get better. He’s curious,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said during last season. “And all those things keep him moving forward, get him past the tough moments. And he wants more.”