Fifteen days ago, Chicago Cubs lefty Shōta Imanaga left his start against the Milwaukee Brewers clutching his left leg after covering first base. We knew almost immediately that it was a hamstring injury, and almost as immediately that it was not a terribly mild injury.
Still, when the scans were performed, they purportedly showed a “very mild” hamstring strain, and some took that as optimism that Imanaga’s absence might be shorter than the typical hamstring injury (usually a minimum of a month). Me, personally? I hoped for a month. That’d be a best-case scenario in that situation.
Doesn’t sound like that’s happening, though:
Per Craig Counsell, #Cubs Shota Imanaga will begin throwing off a mound towards the end of next week. He said his return will be “well into June.”— Taylor McGregor (@Taylor_McGregor) May 19, 2025
If Imanaga isn’t getting off the mound for another ten days, then he wouldn’t even have a chance to make a rehab appearance until June, much less actually return to the big league team by then. He has been able to throw a little bit on flat ground while resting the hamstring, but he’ll still need to ramp up, and, with that much time off, he’ll almost certainly need at least one minor league rehab start, if not two.
So, yeah, we’re looking at something like the second or third week of June as a best-case at this point, which would’ve seen him miss more like six-to-eight weeks, rather than just a month.
This is why, with certain types of soft tissue injuries, you brace yourself for unhappy developments along the way. Not because there are necessarily setbacks, though that can happen. But instead because predicting return timelines from oblique or hamstring injuries pretty much always winds up vexing those who try. Assume longer, be happy if shorter. I hoped for a month, I was prepared for two. Sad as that is.
In the meantime, Cade Horton will continue making starts for the big league team, and they’ll cross their fingers with aggressiveness that no other injuries befall the rotation. We’re not even aware yet of Javier Assad getting back to throwing, so it doesn’t seem plausible that he’d be able to return before Shōta Imanaga. Currently, the Cubs’ starting depth in the minors includes Jordan Wicks, Kenta Maeda, and Connor Noland, as well as conceivably Keegan Thompson and Michael Fulmer, though their starts have been more like multi-inning opener appearances.
UPDATE: We also got word on Ian Happ (oblique), who has trended in the other direction from the jump:
Per Counsell, #Cubs Ian Happ is expected to come off the IL at some point this series. He’s eligible to come off tomorrow.
— Taylor McGregor (@Taylor_McGregor) May 19, 2025
I take that to mean that Happ has been through his battery of tests, and the oblique has felt fine. Given that he might miss only the minimum 10 days, I’d say it must have been an extremely minor issue and the Cubs/Happ were being extremely cautious.
