Shota Imanaga: The Pitching Philosopher
A Leader in Our Field
The Chicago Cubs just signed Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga to a 4-year contract for $53 million.1 As a Cubs fan, I’m very excited to see where his talents will take the team. His appearance in the World Baseball Classic was impressive, and his stats speak for themselves—a career ERA lower than the average ERA for MLB pitchers, 1021 strikeouts over 165 games and 1000 innings, and more eye-widening numbers speak well to his career in Japan and promising career in the US.2
More pertinent to this newsletter, however, is his nickname. He earned the title “the Throwing Philosopher” or “the Pitching Philosopher” apparently due to his approach to baseball and his speaking style in interviews.3 Of course, something like that peaked my interest: Here is someone who apparently puts into practice exactly what I’ve been trying to do on this Substack. I knew I had to look into why he has this nickname—not for historical reasons, but to understand how the players in the big leagues take philosophy (in any of its forms) to heart. After some searching, I found pieces of an interview that show why Shota Imanaga is rightfully known as “the Pitching Philosopher” and how we who think about baseball can follow in his footsteps.
Plato learned from Socrates, Aristotle learned from Plato, Alexander learned from Aristotle. Great thinkers and leader rely on their teachers and mentors to offer them guidance in their approach to new issues. Trevor Bauer may be no Socrates, but he’s had his time in professional baseball. Imanaga used the baseball wisdom that Bauer could impart because he was curious and humble enough to know that he didn’t have all the answers. “I asked Bauer a lot of questions because he would give me clear answers no matter what I asked him,” Imanaga stated in an interview.4 Not only did he look up to Bauer as a source of technical knowledge, but as an older and more experience member Bauer was seen as a “spiritual pillar” of the team. To grow with your teacher is one of the most important things a student can do. By lowering himself in humility to receive all the teacher has to offer, Imanaga finds himself growing alongside his teacher.
After taking this first step, Imanaga took from Bauer a method of dissecting issues within the game: “For example, when I ask him why he does what he does, he gives me a reasoned and methodical answer.” Part of both philosophy and the game of baseball is being able to separate a problem into its parts and move about it with a clear way of attack. No amount of sophistry will allow you to solve issues with integrity and clarity. Imanaga sees this by finding solutions to his craft in the specifics, ensuring that the solutions make sense and provide a rational improvement. Any practice in baseball and philosophy must be well-planned, well-reasoned, and well-formed. From the basics, one can begin to clarify and refine individual cases to reflect the truth or skill hidden within those very cases. This analysis from Imanaga speaks for itself:
Incidentally, what I referred to was the output of his straight. Bauer throws a 149 km/h straight and a 158 km/h straight, depending on the situation. I asked him if I could incorporate this technique into my pitching, and I asked him if I could have a wider range of power output for my straight.
Finally, Imanaga sees the wisdom hidden in vast sources and uses it as a basis and inspiration for his craft. Thomas Aquinas is often said to only have “baptized Aristotle,” but I think this detrimentally downplays the importance of his synthesis. Aquinas drew from Aristotle and the Bible, no doubt, but he also drew from Avicenna, Averroes, Cicero, Plato, Ulpian, the Church Fathers, and many others—always in a way that synthesized the wisdom of these thinkers into a new and greater light. This synthetic method is one of the most important ways to go about doing philosophy. In a way that is fitting to “the Pitching Philosopher,” Imanaga also takes up this synthetic view in baseball, putting him in the same tradition as Aquinas in this regard. “I feed myself from the speeches of various people,” says Imanaga. “I don’t just take what someone says, but I refer to the way they pause and how they choose their words.” His inspiration for playing and outlook on the game is shaped in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. The game, to him, becomes a lifestyle. The goal is to truly and nobly live out the life of a baseball player, keeping an eye to the importance of growth and perseverance. In a way that mirrors the classical sentiment of “memento mori” and living for the virtues, Imanaga eloquently tells us:
The day when I will take off my uniform will surely come. I wonder every day what I will have left when that day comes. That is what I am pursuing, and that is why I am devoting myself to baseball.
In an earlier post, I talked about what it meant to have love for the game.5 To be a philosopher, one must love wisdom—after all, philosophy comes from the Greek words “philo” and “sophia”, or “love of wisdom.” To love wisdom, specifically in baseball, is to grow by learning from players with experience and constantly using all forms of knowledge in your craft. Shota Imanaga does these things deliberately and explicitly. He shows a love for the game and thoughtfulness that you cannot help but admire. This is not to say that other great baseball players have not done the same—the history of baseball overflows with wisdom that only fools would overlook. My only point here is that Imanaga is a contemporary figure to which we can point as an shining example of how to think about baseball.
“Go Cubs, go! Go Cubs, go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? Cubs are going to win today!”
Jordan Bastian, “Cubs finalize 4-year deal with Japanese lefty Imanaga,” MLB (Jan. 11, 2024): https://www.mlb.com/news/shota-imanaga-cubs-deal.
See his stats from the NBP at https://npb.jp/bis/eng/players/01305132.html.
The true origin, as with all nicknames, is difficult to pin down, but my goal here is less on the history, as will be made clear. See Justin Kauffman, “5 things to know about new Cubs pitcher Shōta Imanaga,” AXIOS Chicago (Jan. 10, 2024): https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2024/01/10/shota-imanaga-cubs-pitcher-new-stats-rank; “Japan's 'Throwing Philosopher' excited to join MLB Cubs”, Yahoo Sports (Jan. 12, 2024): https://sports.yahoo.com/japans-throwing-philosopher-excited-join-213341389.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH4rIWl3Xm6lFQY-1zNDIkt4RizybINb_DFRmoaLRxlGFZd4iuSlE8KUlq057M5tSdobG8M2dCFef65fcSC6daoLo9uAfhNVJ8Hn3ytzL_cn3D5QPDZ5BGUnZbwyHbCdlRm6KFC2RgxT3PmD74n3jBe_uxIHvlqmRlafmB0aOBwx#:~:text=Nicknamed%20%22The%20Throwing%20Philosopher%22%20for,to%20play%20in%20North%20America.
“Shota Imanaga, the ‘philosopher of pitching’ of DeNA, ‘Bauer gives me a logical and orderly answer’,” Friday Digital (Sept. 20, 2023): https://en.friday.news/article/19939?page=1. All quotes from Imanaga will be from this article.
Nicolas C. Gonzalez, “Battle to the Death,” Thinking about Baseball (Feb. 26, 2023): https://thinkingaboutbaseball.substack.com/p/battle-to-the-death.
Good input
Nice