DETROIT — Endings like this are always uneasy. Kenta Maeda entered this season with a renewed mission. He spent his offseason in Japan training harder than ever. He began his throwing programs earlier than before. In spring training, he showed small glimpses of hope. After his first outing, he stood under the sun and admitted he felt nervous.
“My main thing going into this offseason was not to do a repeat of last year,” Maeda had said.
Maeda then was reaching 92 mph with his fastball. His splitter showed life, the kind that helped him establish an eight-year career as a capable pitcher in the major leagues, including periods of success with the Dodgers and Twins. Maeda gave up four home runs in spring training and lost out on a spot in the Detroit Tigers rotation. The team nonetheless seemed hopeful after Maeda struck out 23 batters and walked only one.
But a little more than a month into the regular season, the conclusion was foregone. Maeda’s progress from spring did not translate. He was sparsely used. His ERA was at 7.88. In his latest outing against the Houston Astros, he spiked a pitch so badly that Trackman radars could not register what kind of pitch it was.
Kenta Maeda with a two pitch sequence he for sure wants to forget pic.twitter.com/PUhdsNkp3m
— Pitcherclips (@pitcherclips) April 30, 2025
The decision finally came Thursday before the Tigers opened a four-game series against the Angels in Anaheim. The Tigers designated Maeda for assignment, calling up rookie right-hander Tyler Owens in his place. Signed to a two-year, $24 million deal before the 2024 season, the Tigers are now prepared to eat the remainder of the $10 million Maeda is guaranteed to make this season.
Watching Maeda over the past year-plus has been an excruciating experience. He carried himself with pride and professionalism, but time and again he was rocked out on the mound. He posted a 6.09 ERA in his first season with the Tigers. He would wince after another lifeless fastball got pummeled. He would hang his head at the end of another poor outing. He seemed disappointed when the Tigers moved him to the bullpen last year, but he understood the decision. He was dejected when he was left off the team’s playoff roster last fall but could not argue the verdict.
Less than two weeks ago, he stood in the Tigers clubhouse, frustrated again and surely sensing his roster spot was hanging by a thread.
“I’ve never struggled this bad in my entire baseball career,” he told reporters. “It’s no secret that at times I’ve felt very negative about pitching. But I can’t let that eat me up. I can’t give in. I have to find a way to come out of it and stay strong, stay positive.”
The Tigers have staged a 19-12 record so far this season despite hardly using Maeda. The pitcher appeared in only seven games. He walked eight batters and surrendered eight runs in eight innings. His opponents mustered an average exit velocity (91.2 mph) that exceeded the speed of Maeda’s average fastball (90.2 mph). His contract will go down as a miss by the Tigers front office, a rare mishap for an organization that has built a strong reputation for both optimizing and identifying pitching prowess.
“It just looks like things are off with him and he’s not executing at all,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said earlier in April. “When you’re doing that, no matter what type of game you’re pitching in or how often you pitch, it’s a bad feeling.”
Now at age 37, Maeda is cast out into the baseball wilderness, faced with an unfortunate resolution to a Tigers tenure that finally reached an impasse.
(Top photo: Tim Warner/Getty Images)