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Kenta Maeda

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Kenta Maeda
Maeda with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
Hiroshima Toyo Carp – No. 18
Pitcher
Born: (1988-04-11) April 11, 1988 (age 36)
Osaka, Japan
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
April 5, 2008, for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp
NPB statistics
(through 2015)
Win-Loss97-67
Earned run average2.39
Strikeouts1233
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Kenta Maeda (前田 健太, Maeda Kenta, born April 11, 1988) is a Nippon Professional Baseball pitcher for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Central League. He won the 2010 Sawamura Award with a record of 15-8 and a 2.21 ERA, with 174 strikeouts in 215 and 2/3 innings, and six complete games with two shutouts. He also became the youngest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to achieve the pitching Triple Crown and won a Gold Glove in the same year. He won the Sawamura Award for second time in 2015.

He is nicknamed "Maeken" by fans and teammates (from MAEda KENta).

Professional career

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Maeda's first professional year in baseball came in 2008 when he played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. In his rookie season of 2008, Maeda posted a 9-2 record with a 3.20 ERA in 19 games (18 starts).[1] In 2009, he was 8-14 with a 3.36 ERA in 29 starts.[1] In 2010, he performed even better with a 15-8 record, a 2.21 ERA, and 174 strikeouts in 28 starts.[1] In 2011, his record was 10-12 while having a 2.46 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 31 starts.[1] The 2012 season became far better for Maeda as his record was 14-7 with a 1.53 ERA in 29 starts.[1] In 2013, his record was 15-7 with a 2.10 ERA in 26 starts.[1] In 2014, he went 11-9 with a 2.60 ERA in 27 starts.[1] In 2015, he went 15-8 with a 2.09 ERA in 29 starts.[1] He won the Sawamura Award as the leagues best pitcher in both 2010 and 2015[2] and was the youngest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to achieve the pitching Triple Crown.[3]

International competition

Maeda competed for the Japanese national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, and said he would use the tournament to assess his desire to compete in Major League Baseball, based on how he fares against their hitters.[4] Maeda started 2 games in the pool rounds, against China and Netherlands, amassing a 2-0 record with 0.00 ERA, 0.30 WHIP, allowing just 2 hits, 1 walk striking out 15 in 10 innings.[5] He was the losing pitcher in the semi-finals against Puerto Rico despite only allowing one run in five innings.[6] Maeda was selected to the all-tournament team.[7]

Maeda also pitched five shut out innings for a Japanese all-star team in the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series[8] and he pitched in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 tournament, where he allowed two earned runs while striking out 14 in 12 innings.[9]

Pitching style

Maeda is a 6 ft 0 in (183 cm), 178 lb (81 kg) right-handed pitcher. With a three-quarters delivery Maeda throws two fastballs (four-seam, two-seam) that sit in 88-92 mph (tops out at 95 mph[10]), an average change-up, an occasional curveball, and an above-average slider in low-80s, which is his best pitch.[11] He also has excellent command, posting a walks per nine innings rate of 1.9 in his NPB career (through 2015 season).

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Kenta Maeda Register Statistics & History". Baseball Reference. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  2. ^ Coskrey, Jason (October 26, 2015). "Carp hurler Maeda wins Sawamura Award for second time". Japan Times. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  3. ^ Nowak, Joey (December 9, 2015). "Japanese ace Maeda to be posted". mlb.com. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  4. ^ "Hiroshima Carp: Kenta Maeda to gauge his own interest in the MLB during WBC". yakubaka.com. January 6, 2013. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  5. ^ Coskrey, Jason (March 18, 2013). "Maeda relaxed as Japan prepares to face Puerto Rico". Japan Times. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  6. ^ Kepner, Tyler (March 18, 2013). "Puerto Rico Ousts Champion and Nears a Title of Its Own". New York Times. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  7. ^ Newman, Mark (March 20, 2013). "Champs well represented on All-Classic Team". worldbaseballclassic.com. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  8. ^ DiComo, Anthony (November 12, 2014). "Maeda backs up the hype with gem in Japan Series". mlb.com. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  9. ^ Cole, Bryan (November 24, 2015). "International baseball: South Korea wins inaugural Premier 12". SB Nation. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  10. ^ "マエケン　納得の自己最速１５３キロ７回零封！８月わずか１失点". www.sponichi.co.jp (in Japanese). 2013-08-28. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
  11. ^ "Reports: Hiroshima Carp to post right-hander Kenta Maeda". cbssports.com. 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2015-12-07.

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