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Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda will get 'every opportunity' to win job in starting rotation
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- Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda will get 'every opportunity' to win job in starting rotation
The Detroit Tigers aren't going to cut right-hander Kenta Maeda and eat the remaining $10 million of his two-year, $24 million contract , at least not before the 2025 season.
Instead, Maeda could be in the Tigers' starting rotation when 2025 Opening Day rolls around in late March. The 36-year-old needs to win a spot in the rotation during spring training, but the Tigers withdrew their bullpen banishment after the 2024 campaign.
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That means Maeda isn't a reliever anymore.
"He's going to compete for a spot in our rotation," president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Tuesday at the general manager meetings in San Antonio. "We have a lot of starters that are coming to camp expecting to compete for a job. Kenta at his best will have every opportunity to earn a job in our rotation."
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Detroit Tigers pitcher Kenta Maeda (18) wipes sweat on his face after pitching the first inning against Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park in Detroit on Saturday, June 22, 2024.
In 2024, Maeda posted a 6.09 ERA with 31 walks and 96 strikeouts across 112⅓ innings in 29 games (17 starts). Not only did he have a career-worst ERA in his eighth MLB season, but he also had career worsts in strikeout rate (19.8%) and whiff rate (23.8%).
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He made $14 million in 2024.
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The first concerning sign was Maeda's fastball velocity, which averaged 89.5 mph in April. He boosted his velocity in each of the six months, up to 91.8 mph in September.
"I think his pure stuff was down early in the year," Harris said. "It wasn't just the fastball velocity. It was the finish on his pitches. I think that combined with I don't think his body was quite moving as well as it has in the past, which started to affect his command. The best version of him is living on the black on both sides of the plate and throwing the strike-to-ball split. I don't think he really had those weapons or the pitchability early in the year, and he started to find it again in the summer."
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Harris blamed the Tigers, not Maeda.
"I think we could have done a better job supporting him last offseason," Harris said, "and making sure that when he got to camp he was ready to compete with his best stuff, his best command. We didn't see that when he first got there."
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Everything changed when the Tigers moved Maeda from the rotation to the bullpen in early July . His walk rate went down (from 7.7% to 4.1%) and his strikeout rate went up (from 17.6% to 23.8%), all while his overall performance improved.
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He had a 7.42 ERA in 17 games as a starter, then a 3.86 ERA in 12 games as a reliever.
A different routine led to better performances .
"I think it's a credit to Kenta," Harris said. "He worked really hard in the summer, especially after we moved him to the bullpen, and his stuff started to come back, and the execution started to come back. I thought he pitched pretty well down the stretch for us."
Maeda has started 172 of 219 games in his MLB career, spanning a total of 978⅔ innings. He owns a 4.23 ERA in 891 innings as a starter and a 3.49 ERA in 87⅔ innings as a reliever.
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Agent Scott Boras , who represents Maeda, believes his client wants to return to the starting rotation in 2025.
"I think Kenta always wants to start and be in that position," Boras said Wednesday at the GM meetings. "Obviously, those are decisions that he and the Tigers have to make, most likely in spring training."
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The Tigers are all-in on Maeda as a starter, so much so that they changed his offseason program.
Remember, Maeda threw just one bullpen in Japan, where he lives during the offseason, before reporting to spring training in 2024. Expect him to throw multiple bullpens before pitchers and catchers report to spring training in mid-February 2025.
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The goal is to unlock the version of Maeda from years past, back when he threw strikes and generated whiffs en route to strikeouts — as a starting pitcher.
"We changed a lot about his offseason," Harris said, "in an effort to make sure that when he shows up to Lakeland ready to compete, we're getting the best version of him. We've seen throughout his career the best version of Kenta can be a really dependable starter for us."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda will get chance to be in starting rotation
