Detroit Tigers observations: Kenta Maeda brings new language, same splitter to Lakeland

LAKELAND, Fla. — Most United States-born baseball players in Major League Baseball are used to communicating with Spanish speaking players.

Whether they know Spanish or not.

"A lot of guys with second language, like with Spanish, they know baseball Spanish," manager A.J. Hinch said, "but they couldn't carry it on in a conversation."

But this year, the Detroit Tigers are getting used to communicating with veteran right-handed pitcher Kenta Maeda, who speaks Japanese and used to play in Japan.

"Obviously, anytime that we are on the field with him, we will have a translate with us," Hinch said, "visits to the mound and things like that or his player meeting that we're going to have in a couple days."

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After Maeda threw a bullpen on Thursday morning, there was a quick meeting between Tigers pitching coach Chris Fetter, video coordinator Austin Tripp, Maeda and his interpreter, Dai Sekizaki.

It was fascinating to watch, seeing the body language and gestures, as the words were being interrupted.

But the language of baseball is universal.

And it looked like the Tigers have already figured out "baseball Japanese."

"The players seem to sort that out, and he's had no problem in his career," Hinch said. "I think that will be a work in progress. I'm more interested in them learning each other's traits and what makes him successful and what he likes, the setup behind the plate, the pitch calling. He's been around so long, he's had to adjust to a lot of different catchers."

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It was Maeda's second bullpen of the year, but his first bullpen in the United States and his first bullpen mixing all of his pitches. He threw one bullpen — fastballs only — in Japan before reporting to Lakeland.

The slow build is normal for Maeda's throwing progression.

"I like to go nice and easy in my bullpen sessions," Maeda said, with Sekizaki interpreting. "I know a lot of Japanese pitchers like to throw a lot, but I'm not one of those players."

Maeda worked with catcher Carson Kelly during Thursday's bullpen.

"He knows English, too," Kelly said. "The communication is not going to be a problem. It's just baseball talk. He wants to get better. He wants to show his stuff. It's great to have him here."

The splitter is Maeda's signature secondary pitch.

It stood out to Kelly.

"It's tough," Kelly said. "I'd much rather catch it than hit it."

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Infield construction, batting practice

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Technically, the Tigers position players have yet to start camp. But most of the infield was in place on Thursday afternoon, as Hinch hit grounders to a group of eight players.

Matt Vierling was at third base; Colt Keith was at second base; Spencer Torkelson was at first base.

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They worked on grounders and double plays. Keith looked just fine at second, able to twist the double plays. He might not be world class but he didn't make any mistakes.

The true show was the batting practice when the first group included Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and Akil Baddoo.

All of them hit bombs, with Hinch and president of baseball operations Scott Harris looking on.

Already ready for games

What surprised Hinch after the team's first bullpen sessions?

It was how the pitchers were throwing with so much velocity.

"Guys were throwing 98 miles an hour," Hinch said. "I mean, that's insane on February 14."

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In the old days, players would use spring training to ramp up.

But that’s not the case anymore.

They come to camp in tremendous shape, after preparing all winter.

"This is a year-round sport now," Hinch said. "These guys are continuing to push it. I'm not sure if it's good or bad across the game, but it's exactly where the players are."

It has changed how the Tigers are coaching the players.

"We as coaches need to coach them where they're at, not where we either wish they were or where we expect them to be," Hinch said. "We could play a game tomorrow."

Granted, Hinch would worry about hamstrings and groins.

Jack Flaherty's bullpen

For example, right-hander Jack Flaherty completed his ninth bullpen session Thursday morning, where he worked on his slider.

"I was able to make adjustments on my slider, which was more my main focus," Flaherty said. "Everything else wasn't quite there, but the focus, we got that."

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Flaherty hasn't faced hitters yet, but some pitchers have already thrown multiple live batting practices. Flaherty, a seven-year MLB veteran, had a 4.99 ERA last season, but the Tigers are trying to help him make an improvement.

It's all about biomechanics.

"The way I was moving, the way the ball was coming out, the way my arm was moving," Flaherty said, "just being able to make those changes. That was the big adjustment going forward. The ball is coming out better. I'm going to try to continue on with that."

Outfield-only prospect

Prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy isn't going to take ground balls at third base in spring training. The 23-year-old has been outfield-only since the beginning of the offseason, so he hasn't worked on his defense at third base.

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Malloy, who hit .277 in Triple-A Toledo last season, spent the entire offseason working on his outfield defense. He struggled at third base in 510 innings last season, forcing a full-time move to the outfield.

He will play the corner outfield positions in 2024.

Day 1 for Jason Benetti

Television play-by-play broadcaster Jason Benetti, hired in early November, showed up in Lakeland for Thursday's workout. He watched bullpens near the backfields.

Benetti will broadcast four games in spring training and a minimum of 127 games in the regular season.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold. Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him @seideljeff.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers' Kenta Maeda's splitter is nasty in any language