Japanese ace Kenta Maeda isn’t coming to MLB just yet
We saw Japanese ace Kenta Maeda recently, when he shut down a team of MLB stars in the Japan Series, allowing just two hits in five scoreless innings. Maeda’s start was watched more closely than other parts of the Japan Series because there was a belief that he could be pitching in MLB next season.
That won’t be happening, not for 2015, as we’ve learned that Maeda’s team, the Hiroshima Carp, won’t post him for MLB teams to bid on — despite his wishes to come to the U.S.. Per Jim Allen at Kyodo News:
Last year in Japan, Maeda went 11-9 with a 2.60 ERA, and that was actually a down year comparatively. He was 15-7 with a 2.10 ERA in 2013 and 14-7 with a 1.53 ERA. Those aren’t quite as impressive as Yu Darvish’s or Masahiro Tanaka’s pre-MLB number, but they’re still good enough to make Maeda, 26, the next Japanese pitcher MLB teams are waiting for.
As our Jeff Passan noted in his Ultimate Free-Agent Tracker, Maeda doesn’t have the velocity of Tanaka or Darvish, relying on breaking pitches to complement his low-90s fastball. Still, Maeda was ranked between Ervin Santana and Francisco Liriano on Yahoo Sports’ free-agent rankings (had he been posted, of course).
The Arizona Diamondbacks were among the teams interested in Maeda.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
