LAKELAND, Fla. – Tigers manager A.J. Hinch met with Kenta Maeda on Friday and told him that he would start the season pitching out of the bullpen.
"What we saw from Kenta this spring was really good," Hinch said Friday. "This guy doesn't walk people. He's striking out guys."
To prepare for the role, Maeda will make a multi-inning appearance out of bullpen Saturday against Atlanta in Lakeland and pitch a single inning in San Francisco early next week before the Tigers open their season with a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers .
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"He did have the one bout with the sickness but had a really good spring – a couple wind-blown home runs," Hinch said, "but the power was up, his fastball was up, his split was good; and we're going to utilize him."
Last year, Maeda pitched in 29 games, 17 of them starts.
"I do like the progress that he showed and we're happy with the work that he put in," Hinch said. "And I don't want this transition to the bullpen to negatively impact that. And I told him that, so he took the news, fine."
So far this spring, Maeda has pitched better than he did last spring, even despite a bout with illness.
"It's a step better than last year," Hinch said. "It's indicative of the work you put in the winter. And I know he wants an important role. So I think sometimes the natural reaction for people in our sport is, when you don't make a rotation, then you slide to the long-man role, or this sort of stuffed away guy in the pen.
"And that's not true. So he can still earn his innings. He can earn important innings, but he wasn't going to be in the rotation."
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Matt Vierling has made progress in recovering from a strained rotator cuff muscle in his right shoulder.
But not enough to make the Tigers' Opening Day roster.
"It's encouraging news," Hinch said. "It's just a slow process. And I think as we wind down camp, I feel for him, because he's not gonna go with us, and he's ready to fast forward. "
According to the Tigers injury report, Vierling started a hitting progression earlier this week and has been cleared to advance his shoulder strengthening exercises. He is also completing conditioning, defensive drills and rehab daily.
"I'm encouraged by how he's doing," Hinch said. "We just have to stay uber disciplined to stay on the rehab process. Even though the season starts to feel like you should hurry, we'll get him healthy.
"And we have a lot of confidence he's going to have a good season and play a lot, but we're not ready to ramp it up to the point of being too aggressive."
Center fielder Parker Meadows, who has been out with an upper arm inflammation, has also made small improvements.
"Step by step," Hinch said. "That's the encouraging part. We just don't know what that means in its entirety.
"I think everybody, including me, including Parker, would love to have a date on the calendar, which we know he's going to be back. It's just it's not there yet."
The 25-year-old was injured while making a throw against the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of spring training.
He is not throwing yet, but he is doing conditioning, defensive work and rehab.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com . Follow him on X @seideljeff
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers send Kenta Maeda to bullpen, to throw long relief
