Adam Ottavino breaks down Shota Imanaga’s struggles this season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

pitcher Shota Imanaga was an enigma in his first season in the MLB last year. He made 29 starts, posting a 15-3 record with a 2.91 ERA across 173.1 innings of work.

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This year, he has taken a bit of a step back, like many do during their sophomore season. He has not looked as sharp, and a hamstring injury from May could be a part of the reason.

Imanaga was diagnosed with a mild hamstring strain and placed on the 15-day IL. He returned in June, but has faced consistency issues during his outings.

Imanaga recently started Game 2 of the NLDS on Monday, only lasting 2.2 innings while giving up four runs on five hits, while striking out three batters in the 7-3 loss.

Adam Ottavino did not pitch much this season. He signed a deal with the ahead of the 2025 season, just to be DFA’d twice and elect free agency in April

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Not finding a new team, he has had nearly the whole season to watch how other players are doing. On Saturday, he joined the crew at MLB Network to help explain Shota Imanaga’s sophomore slump.

“What’s happened to him is he’s getting clipped for home runs a lot. The fastball, he’s not getting it quite to the same locations at the very tippy top of the zone as he was in his debut season. So, the location suffered a little bit. Also, he’s about a one mile per hour down on it, so the effect of that ride effect is not quite the same as it was before.”

Ottavino points to missed locations and a decrease in his fastball as the major reasons for his struggles. He does not have the velocity to miss his spots and has paid the price, giving up 31 regular-season home runs this year.