The Astros will activate Tatsuya Imai from the injured list on May 12, 2026, and are lining him up to start against Bryan Woo in the second game of a four-game set with the Mariners. Houston will need to option a pitcher to make room, and the move likely signals a return to a six-man rotation.
Imai’s comeback comes after a month-long absence caused by arm fatigue, and it arrives with Houston stuck at 16-26 after Monday’s loss, 10 games below.500 and tied with the Angels for the worst record in the American League. The right-hander was signed to a three-year free agent contract, but his first month in the majors has been uneven enough that the Astros need him to be more than a fresh arm.
In his first three MLB appearances, Imai struggled in two of them. He walked 11 hitters over his first 8 2/3 innings and failed to complete three innings twice, a stretch that raised immediate questions about command and stamina. He later issued eight walks in five rehab innings across two minor league rehab starts, which offered only a mixed read on how cleanly he is throwing the ball now.
Houston has been forced to keep patching together innings while dealing with injuries to Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Josh Hader and Bennett Sousa. That has left the club leaning on depth options and made the rotation structure a moving target, which is why the timing of Imai’s return matters beyond one start against Seattle. If he is sharp, the Astros can stabilize a staff that has spent too much of the spring in survival mode; if he is not, the pressure on the rest of the rotation only grows.
The bullpen picture is shifting too. Nate Pearson has been on the injured list all season after offseason elbow surgery, and the Astros announced Monday that they now view him as a reliever. Pearson is on a rehab assignment and will need to earn a spot on the MLB roster or be placed on waivers because he is out of options. He walked multiple hitters in each of his first three rehab appearances before throwing a perfect inning for Triple-A Sugar Land on Saturday, while averaging 96.4 mph on his four-seam fastball.
Other reinforcements are also moving closer. Jeremy Peña should begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Corpus Christi on May 12, and Jake Meyers is likely to begin his own rehab stint during the week of May 11. Josh Hader could return as soon as May 24 if his rehab goes well and he is ready when first eligible.
For now, the headline is simpler: the Astros need innings, and Imai is due back to supply them. The question is whether a month on the shelf was enough to settle the control problems that made his first MLB stretch so difficult, because Houston can no longer afford another starter who cannot stay in a game deep enough to matter.
