is a Japanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

for the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB).

Career

Imai made his NPB debut in 2018 with the

. On April 18, 2025, Imai and

Kaima Taira is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Career Taira was drafted by the Saitama Seibu Lions with the team's fourth selection in the 2017 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) ...

combined to

no-hit In baseball, a no-hitter or no-hit game is a game in which a team does not record a hit through conventional methods. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine ...

the

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture. They compete in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a member of the Pacific League. Founded on February 22, 1938, as the Nankai Club, being the first Kansai t ...

at the

Belluna Dome (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan. It is home to the Saitama Seibu Lions, a professional baseball team. The stadium has a roof over the field and the stands, like other indoor ballparks. However, it la ...

. Imai pitched the first eight innings, with Taira coming in the complete the no-hitter in the ninth inning. On June 21, it was announced that Imai, along with first baseman

Tyler Nevin Tyler Joseph Nevin (born May 29, 1997) is an American professional baseball infielder for the Saitama Seibu Lions of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Ti ...

, received the May Taiju Life Insurance Monthly MVP.

References

External links

NPB.com
1998 births Living people Sportspeople from Kanuma, Tochigi Baseball people from Tochigi Prefecture Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Saitama Seibu Lions players {{Japan-baseball-pitcher-stub