Cubs Spring Training Notebook: What Shota Imanaga wants to showcase to teammates in Japan
MESA, Ariz. — Colin Rea is excited to return to Japan after playing there in 2022.
Eating some of the cuisine again, though, is a mixed bag.
“Not a ton of sushi or ramen for me, but I’m not against it either,” the new Cubs starter said on Monday. “But the food over there is incredible. I felt like body, physically, I felt great over there, and I think that was a big reason why.”
Seriously, no sushi? One of the staples of Japan?
“I think he ate fake sushi, so I think [I’ll] show him the real one over there,” quipped Shota Imanaga through his translator Edwin Stanberry on Monday.
Jokes aside, Imanaga is excited to showcase his home country to his teammates next month when the Cubs travel to Japan for the Tokyo Series against the Dodgers.
“I’ll have a list in my head about locations and if people ask about food or whatever I want to, then I can recommend to them,” Imanaga told Elise Menaker in an exclusive one-on-one interview.
[WATCH: Exclusive one-on-one interview with Cubs starter Shota Imanaga]
And it’ll allow his teammates to experience what he and Seiya Suzuki underwent when they came to the United States.
“When we go to Japan, I think it’s the same for me when I came to the U.S. that everybody’s going to be in Japan so they’re gonna understand how it felt when I first came here,” Imanaga told Menaker.
New Digs
Ryan Pressly threw a bullpen session at the 12-pack at the Nike Perfomance Center on Monday. It was the first time since camp opened that the All-Star reliever had thrown in his new uniform.
Pressly, acquired in a trade with the Astros last month for prospect Juan Bello, was in a throwing group with lefties Luke Little and Jordan Wicks during the second group of bullpen sessions.
Justin Steele, Daniel Palencia and Brad Keller threw in the first group and Rea, Brooks Kriske and Cody Poteet threw in the final set.
Working on fundamentals
Pitchers who didn’t throw on Monday took part in some ole fashioned PFPs — pitcher fielding practice.
Jameson Taillon, Tyson Miller, Porter Hodge and Ryan Brasier were among a group of players who fine-tuned some of their glove work on Field 1.