MESA, Ariz. — It’s rare that spring workouts are must-see action.

Count Wednesday afternoon as one of those unique times.

On Field 6 of the backfields at Sloan Park, new Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga was throwing a live batting practice session. Among the hitters he was facing was his countryman, Seiya Suzuki.

“So, we talked about it beforehand that we would face [off] and I told him I would throw a fastball only,” Imanaga said through interpreter Nao Masamoto.

That quickly changed when he saw Suzuki step into the batter’s box.

“Once he gets up there, he looks bigger and I don’t wanna lose him, so I lied to him, I threw a breaking ball to him,” Imanaga said.

The result was a strikeout that was the highlight of Cubs camp. The pair had squared off before in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, where Suzuki starred for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp and Imanaga was an ace for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.

“I give up a lot of home runs to him, so he’s probably pissed that we are on the same team right now, so his home run numbers are gonna go down,” Imanaga quipped.

Imanaga threw about “24, 25 pitches” in the session, facing six hitters — Patrick Wisdom twice, Pete Crow-Armstrong twice, Miguel Amaya once and Suzuki’s strikeout. He induced a popup to first base to Wisdom and a groundout from Crow-Armstrong before striking out Suzuki. Amaya popped up to second base before the lineup “turned over”.

“It’s got life to it,” Wisdom said of Imanaga’s repertoire. “That fastball’s real nice. He threw one into me and got in there. Offspeed’s nice too. It’s just nice getting in there and see what he’s all about.”

In that second turn, Imanaga saw something about American hitters that he quickly picked up on — hitters here are quick to adjust. Wisdom settled in the second time and crushed a home run to left field.

“I think I faced two hitters twice and the second time they are adjusting already,” Imanaga said. “But I threw a bad slider up in the zone and he was able to see that out and crushed it, so make sure I’d be able to work on that.”

It’s part of the beauty of live batting practices right now in camp — both sides, regardless of results, are trying to help one another.

“The other day I yelled at the guy like, ‘Don’t baby the slider,’” Wisdom said. “You can ask pitchers like ‘Hey what’d you see from me? Was I kinda flying open? Did you see me diving?’ Also, the catcher, too.

“We’re all trying to help one another, especially in this setting. I think those conversations go so far.”

Bunting already?

Before Imanaga’s live batting practice, Cubs’ ace Justin Steele threw an inning of his own on Field 6.

The lefty faced Mike Tauchman, Alexander Canario and Crow-Armstrong. In Crow-Armstrong’s second at-bat, the lefty laid down a bunt to the first base side against Steele, a rare sight in live batting practices.

Then, after workouts, Crow-Armstrong was on the half field behind the agility field practicing bunts with third base coach Willie Harris.

“It’s kind of thinking about Pete as a player and situations that he could get put into this year,” manager Craig Counsell said. “When you have a defender like Pete, when you get into the game, you’re not taking him out of games, right?

“So, you just think about situations that could come up late in the games where we’re always looking for the best offensive matchup, but there’s matchups where you’re not going to take. So, the bunt against tough matchups could be a real thing and a play that we — although I would tell you, I don’t love giving up an out — maybe this is the best situation for us to advance a base here on a difficult matchup for Pete.”

It’s not an about-face for Counsell, who said at Cubs Con last month that he didn’t like bunting.

“Look there’s days at Wrigley Field that’s made me think a little bit harder about the bunts,” Counsell said. “If baseball was a game, where there was no such thing as a home run we would think vastly differently about the bunt.

“If you take the home run out of the game, which it feels like some days at Wrigley Field, it’s pretty difficult and then you maybe think differently about it.”

I declare a thumb war

When Imanaga’s outing was done, he walked off the mound toward his catcher Yan Gomes. For the first time, the pair weren’t on the same page.

Neither knew whether to shake hands, fist bump or high five. Instead, the pair did a mini thumb war to end the session.

“So, I wasn’t sure if it was a fist bump, a shake, a hug, whatever, so we decided to go with a fist bump next time,” Imanaga said with a smile.

Starter named

The Cubs will start lefty Jordan Wicks in Friday’s Cactus League opener at Sloan Park against the White Sox.