Detroit Tigers expect veteran Kenta Maeda to help young pitchers 'lock in our command'

The Detroit Tigers have two expectations for new right-hander Kenta Maeda: win games with the command of his swing-and-miss pitches and influence the young starting pitchers with his veteran presence in the rotation.

The Tigers officially signed Maeda on Tuesday afternoon, less than two days after coming to an agreement on a two-year, $24 million contract. The 35-year-old will earn $14 million in the 2024 season and $10 million in the 2025 season. He will donate to the Tigers Foundation in both years of his contract, giving $70,000 in 2024 and $50,000 in 2025.

Maeda, a seven-year MLB veteran, is capable of meeting expectations.

"He does a lot of things that we really like," president of baseball operations Scott Harris said Tuesday. "I think and I hope the most important influence will be commanding pitches to all parts of the zone. We want our young starters to use the entire zone, and Kenta is really good at that."

THE DEAL: Tigers sign right-hander Kenta Maeda to two-year, $24 million contract

Maeda, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers out of Japan in 2016, logged a 4.23 ERA with 28 walks and 117 strikeouts over 104⅓ innings in 21 games (20 starts) for the Minnesota Twins last season, but he had a 3.36 ERA with 25 walks and 103 strikeouts over 88⅓ innings in his final 17 games.

The negatives: He ranked in the ninth percentile in ground-ball rate (33.6%), 15th percentile in average exit velocity (90.4 mph) and 26th percentile in hard-hit rate (42.1%).

A spacious Comerica Park should help Maeda, who surrendered 17 home runs last season, combat his weaknesses. He would have allowed 93 homers — compared to 121 homers — in his seven-year career if he pitched all of his 217 games (including the postseason) at Comerica Park.

"Kenta is an extreme fly-ball pitcher," Harris said. "I think he stands to benefit more than most from our ballpark and our outfield defense. If our ballpark can hold a few more of those deep fly balls and our outfield defenders can run down a few more of those extra-base hits in the gaps and turn them into outs, Kenta has a chance to post an even stronger year in 2024."

BEFORE THE DEAL: Signing free-agent pitcher Kenta Maeda would help Tigers in more ways than one

The positives: He ranked in the 78th percentile in walk rate (6.5%), 77th percentile in strikeout rate (27.3%), 76th percentile in chase rate (31.2%) and 66th percentile in whiff rate (28.2%).

Maeda throws a splitter, slider, four-seam fastball, sinker and curveball. His four-seam fastball averaged 91 mph with a 25% swing-and-miss rate, while his splitter generated a 35% whiff rate and his slider produced a 27.6% whiff rate. He knows how to miss bats without top-end fastball velocity.

"He can use his two swing-and-miss secondary pitches, plus his curveball, to both sides of the plate," Harris said. "He also commands his four-seamer to the top rail to change eye levels with the hitters, and he also induces a ton of swing and miss down in the zone with his split. He steals strikes with his split at the very bottom of rail when hitters give up on that pitch. He also can throw the nasty strike-to-ball version and put away hitters. One thing that we noticed was he has that natural feel to vary the shape of his slider. He can throw that harder, traditional slider to certain hitters, and he can throw a sweeper to other hitters — getting a little bit more horizontal (movement) — to stay a little bit more unpredictable."

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Maeda joins a starting rotation that features left-hander Tarik Skubal and right-handers Reese Olson, Casey Mize, Matt Manning and Sawyer Gipson-Long. (The Tigers will continue looking for more pitching this offseason, both in the rotation and in the bullpen.)

Skubal, 27, is already elite with a high-velocity fastball and one of the best changeups. Olson, 24, owns a high-spin slider and a wicked changeup to complement an improving fastball and a new sinker. Mize, 26, has been known for his splitter and his command since his college years, but he is coming back from Tommy John surgery without a proven track record. Manning, 25, has an above-average fastball, a potential swing-and-miss slider, an absent changeup and a washed-up curveball. Gipson-Long, 25, throws his slider and his changeup, a pair of above-average secondary pitches with extreme whiff rates, more often than he throws his fastball, similar to the way Maeda throws more splitters and sliders than fastballs.

Right-hander Jackson Jobe, a former No. 3 overall draft pick who will be Maeda's teammate at some point in the next two years, has a ridiculous arsenal of swing-and-miss pitches that could guide him to ace-caliber status once he passes his tests as a top prospect in the minor leagues.

"We have a lot of stuff in the rotation," Harris said. "Now, I hope that we can lock in our command. Watching Kenta work, I hope our young starters notice that command, sequencing and using the whole zone can really allow your entire mix to play up. Kenta has been doing it his whole career, and he did it last year. We certainly took notice and felt like he would be a very strong addition to our 2024 rotation."

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The Tigers experienced Maeda's dominance on three separate occasions in the 2023 campaign: June 23 and Aug. 10 at Comerica Park in Detroit, then Aug. 16 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

Maeda underwent Tommy John surgery in September 2021, missed the entire 2022 season and returned to the Twins in April 2023. He struggled in four starts to begin the season before landing on the injured list in late April with a a right triceps strain.

He returned June 23 against the Tigers.

In that game, Maeda shoved five scoreless innings on three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts. He generated 11 whiffs with five splitters, four fastballs and two sliders.

In the next two starts, Maeda allowed four runs to the Tigers on 10 hits and two walks with 10 strikeouts across 10 innings. He combined for 22 whiffs on 11 fastballs, five sliders, five splitters and one sinker.

The first start against the Tigers kickstarted an impressive final 17 games. His 3.36 ERA ranked 23rd, his 29% strikeout rate ranked 11th and his 7% walk rate ranked 41st among 74 pitches with at least 80 innings from June 23 through Oct. 1.

"In addition to that, his velocity crept back up to pre-injury norms in August," Harris said. "We felt like that was a really good sign for him coming off of surgery, and we hope that momentum will carry into 2024 and 2025. As soon as we noticed those things, in addition to all of the other things that we've always liked, we realized he'd be a good fit."

The Tigers reached out to Maeda's agents from the Boras Corporation at the onset of the offseason, beginning their pursuit.

The two sides agreed to a two-year contract, marking the first multi-year deal in Harris' tenure as president of baseball operations.

"We felt pretty comfortable with offering two years here because it gives us a little bit more continuity in our rotation, having him for multiple years," Harris said. "We also think that the consistency of his track record gave us a little bit more comfort in that we believe that he will be very effective on the mound for at least a few more years."

The predicable shelf life of a pitcher's throwing arm after Tommy John surgery played into the decision to sign Maeda for two years. Essentially, the Tigers are confident that Maeda won't have any elbow issues over the next two years.

Maeda could get better as a starting pitcher in his second and third seasons removed from Tommy John surgery, as some pitchers tend to do. His slider, which decreased in whiff rate from 32.4% in 2021 to 27.6% in 2023, appears to be a potential area for a small improvement.

But the Tigers don't need him to improve.

The Tigers are banking on him to win games and influence the young pitchers.

"We have some ideas that can help Kenta," Harris said. "I think his combination of command, the depth of his mix and his natural feel for spinning the ball gives us more opportunity to make some adjustments. However, I will note, he's already a very successful starting pitcher. If he does nothing but show up next year, he's still going to be really good for us, but I think there are some things that we're going to attack in spring training and see if we can get a little bit more out of him."

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 believe Kenta Maeda can help team on, off the field