MESA, Ariz. — The lefty meandered his way to the 12-pack — the set of mounds nestled between Field 1 and Field 2 at Sloan Park — and prepared to start his work.

About 70 feet away, dozens of reporters and cameras situated themselves as the southpaw began to throw a baseball 60 feet, 6 inches to his batterymate, Yan Gomes.

On the mound wasn’t Justin Steele, the Cubs ace and breakout star in 2023. No, the lefty who was commanding the attention was the team’s offseason acquisition, Shota Imanaga.

“As a rookie, there’s been maybe a little more attention, but whether there’s attention or there’s not much attention, what I have to do doesn’t change,” Imanaga said through interpreter Shingo Murata. “So it has not really had very much of an impact on me.”

Shota Imanaga throws a bullpen at Cubs camp.

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Imanaga’s bullpen session was one of the must-see attractions as the Cubs’ pitchers and catchers had their first workout on Wednesday. He threw a “touch-and-feel” session, with pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and other personnel from the Cubs behind him.

“Seeing his stuff, I think it’s come as advertised,” Hottovy said. “Just a really unique fastball. Just trying to talk through ways he can continue to use it and in effective ways. Then just seeing the rest of the repertoire. He’s got a complete repertoire. He’s a really complete package of a pitcher.”

All the scouting reports on Imanaga agreed he wasn’t a power pitcher; he wasn’t going to beat hitters with pitches that pop on the radar guns. Instead, he is a pitcher with unique spin and that allows his fastball to appear faster and stronger than the velocity would say. Early on, that scouting report has been spot on.

“His heater as of right now, as advertised,” Gomes said. “Definitely plays up a little bit.”

A familiar face

Cubs manager Craig Counsell met his new ace, Steele, in person for the first time at Cubs Convention in January.

Steele had just married his wife, Libby, earlier in the month and had shaved for the occasion, so his beard that he had grown out through the course of 2023 was no more. Counsell wasn’t afraid to let him know his thoughts.

“He was clean-cut for his wedding and I didn’t like that,” Counsell said.

“He was like, ‘I don’t think I like the clean look,’” Steele added. “’I think you need to look a little rough.’”

That was fine by Steele.

“I don’t like haircuts and I don’t like shaving, really,” the lefty said with a smile. “It’ll be no problem.”

Quote of the day

Steele, Adbert Alzolay and others have raved on Imanaga’s pitching prowess, but the lefty had kind words for his teammates, too.

“I had a chance to watch Justin Steele pitch in the bullpen twice and I was watching from behind the pitcher, but just watching his slider, I can picture how the hitter would swing and chase at it,” Imanaga said. “In the bullpen, it’s kinda hard to imagine a batter standing there, but with him, just standing there, I could see the batter swinging, whiffing at the pitch. That was impressive.

“Also just having catch with Kyle Hendricks — he doesn’t make mistakes even in just having catch, so that’s been really impressive as well.”