This was supposed to be a bounce-back year for Kenta Maeda. So far, it's been more of the same.
Despite an encouraging spring, Maeda has pitched poorly out of the Tigers' bullpen, his latest letdown coming in the ninth inning of Friday night's win over the Royals when he couldn't get a 7-1 game over the finish line. He recorded one out and ultimately forced the Tigers to use one of their top relievers, Tommy Kahnle, to close out a 7-3 win.
After losing his spot in the rotation last year on the heels of signing a two-year, $24 million contract with Detroit, Maeda has a 10.50 ERA in five outings this year. He's allowed a batting average of .333.
He arrived in Detroit with an ERA of 3.92 over seven big-league seasons, and a career bWAR of 8.5. His ERA with the Tigers is 6.31, worst in the majors over the last two seasons among pitchers who have thrown at least 100 innings. His bWAR is minus-2. In other words, the Tigers would be better off with a replacement-level arm on the roster.
"I’ve been struggling mightily since last year," Maeda said Saturday morning through his interpreter. "I’ve never struggled this bad in my entire baseball career. It’s no secret that there’s been times that I feel very negative about pitching, but I can’t let that eat me up. I can’t give in. I gotta find ways to come out of it, stay strong, stay positive."
A starter for most of his career, Maeda, 37, said he's still learning how to pitch without the regular rhythm and routines of being in the rotation, and how to prepare his arm to be ready at a moment's notice.
"It’s not very easy to go out there and pitch without a schedule, and just to maintain my body condition to be ready physically, mentally is not an easy thing," he said. "I’m in the midst of trying to figure out what’s best for me in order to stay ready for whenever that time may be, because there would be times that I wouldn’t pitch for multiple days and then you would see back-to-back outings, so things like that I gotta get used to."
A.J. Hinch didn't sound particularly sympathetic to that explanation. As Hinch pointed out Saturday morning, Maeda's appearance Friday was his third in six days, so he should be adjusting to his role in the bullpen.
"I think it all comes down to the strike zone," said Hinch. "Where he gets in trouble is when he doesn’t get first-pitch strikes, and if he doesn’t get first-pitch strikes he’s chasing bad counts, which is piling up on him. The strike zone is usually the answer for everything. It’s hard when performance isn’t great, when execution isn’t great, and you want to make up for that every time you get on the mound."
While it's early in the season, this a pressing matter for the Tigers as they aim to stay atop the AL Central amid a stretch of 22 games in 23 days. They're already working with a depleted bullpen as they employ a six-man rotation to get through the compressed schedule and they lost fellow right-handed relievers Beau Brieske (ankle inflammation) and John Brebbia (triceps strain) to the 15-day injured list in the last two days, so they can't afford an empty arm in their bullpen.
"We have to try to figure it out because, especially this (coming) week, when we’re down a reliever as it is, there’s going to be some situations where we ask a lot out of these guys," said Hinch. "Working to get ourselves sharp is the key, because you never know when the ball’s going to be in your hand."
Maeda did pitch well in spring training, even if the ERA (4.91) didn't show it. He had 23 strikeouts to one walk in 14 2/3 innings and held hitters to a .228 average. It just hasn't carried over to the season, with Maeda citing a stomach issue that plagued him toward the end of the spring.
He allowed two runs in two innings in his first outing of the regular season and just hasn't figured it out since. His contract expires after this season, but his time in Detroit might end sooner than that.
"I was feeling great in spring and then toward the end of spring training when I had some stomach ache issue, I had to bounce back, so Opening Day wasn’t as sharp as I was in spring," Maeda said. "But compared to Opening Day I’m feeling a lot better and I feel like my stuff is better than it was."
It feels like he's running out of time to prove it.