A Beacon of Light in a Dark World: Kenta Maeda

Five months ago the Detroit Tigers were holding their annual open tryout in Lakeland, Florida (not because they are horrible, they’re the last club in the league to still do it). Yesterday the Tigers swept an offense drained, injury stained Minnesota Twins baseball club that has lost a season high five games in a row.

But if there’s been a ray of sunshine on a Twins mid season cloudy day (or week) it's been the consistency of Kenta Maeda.

Maeda pitched six quality innings in the Twins 3-2 loss on Sunday. Despite picking up his first loss on the year Maeda was rock solid, giving up six hits, zero walks and striking out eight.

Through his first seven starts of 2020 Maeda is 4-1 with a 2.53 ERA. In those starts he’s only given up a total of twelve runs, with the three on Sunday tying his season high.

And while Maeda’s record in the Win/Loss column is impressive his shining 2020 moment came from a no-decision start on August 18 where he pitched a brilliant 8 innings of no-hit baseball against the Brewers.

This isn’t a call for Maeda’s name to appear in the Cy Young race (although before yesterday’s game he was ranked fourth in ESPN’s Cy Young Predictor). Even if his numbers for the rest of the year are stellar Maeda probably won’t get a sniff from the Baseball Writers. His meat and potatoes style of pitching doesn’t fit the high velocity, deep into games, and strikeout crazy mold that has historically fit pitchers for the Cy Young (although he does have 48 strikeouts, tied for 12th in the MLB).

However, at the end of the day it’s not awards, radar guns, and sexy stats that matter; it’s wins and consistency. Maeda brings that to the table for the Twins- and has his whole career.

Since his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 2016 Maeda has flirted between being a middle of the rotation starter and a bullpen staple. In 2016 he finished 3rd in NL Rookie of the Year voting (behind Corey Seager and Trea Turner) with a 16-11 record and 3.48 ERA.

2017 saw Maeda emerge as the bullpen stud that put his name on the map for fans across the country. In 10.2 innings he gave up just one run and posted a 0.84 ERA before losing the *2017 World Series to the Houston Astros* (notice asterisks).

2018 and 2019 weren’t anything for Maeda to write home about, as he posted an 8-10 record in 2018 and 10-8 in 2019. Still he proved to be a solid fixture on a very good Dodger pitching staff (that included now teammate Rich Hill).

It’s no secret that the Twins have under performed this season. While there have been many predicted rights that have gone wrong for the 2020, Maeda has proved nothing but steady so far this year.

With Maeda slated to get revenge on the Tigers on Saturday and Michael Pineda scheduled to return Tuesday night against Chicago the Twins will hopefully see a surge of confidence on the mound following today’s trade deadline.

Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint. But it would sure be nice if the Twins could lace up the Nikes, gas some Pedialyte and pasta, and pull ahead in the quickly waning race.

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