Kenta Maeda

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Maeda's first professional year in baseball came in 2008 when he played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In his rookie season of 2008, Maeda posted a 9–2 win-loss record with a 3.20 earned run average (ERA) in 19 games (18 starts). In 2009, he was 8–14 with a 3.36 ERA in 29 starts. In 2010, he performed even better with a 15–8 record, a 2.21 ERA, and 174 strikeouts in 28 starts. In 2011, his record was 10–12 while having a 2.46 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 31 starts. The 2012 season became far better for Maeda as his record was 14–7 with a 1.53 ERA in 29 starts. In 2013, his record was 15–7 with a 2.10 ERA in 26 starts. In 2014, he went 11–9 with a 2.60 ERA in 27 starts. In 2015, he went 15–8 with a 2.09 ERA in 29 starts. He won the Sawamura Award as the league's best pitcher in both 2010 and 2015 and was the youngest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to achieve the pitching Triple Crown. The Carp chose to make him available to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams through the posting system in December 2015.

International competition

Maeda competed for the Japanese national baseball team in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, and said he would use the tournament to assess his desire to compete in MLB, based on how he fared against their hitters. Maeda started 2 games in the pool rounds, against China and Netherlands, amassing a 2–0 record with 0.00 ERA, 0.30 WHIP, allowing just 2 hits, 1 walk striking out 15 in 10 innings. He was the losing pitcher in the semi-finals against Puerto Rico despite only allowing one run in five innings. Maeda was selected to the all-tournament team.

Maeda also pitched five shut out innings for a Japanese all-star team in the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series and he pitched in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 tournament, where he allowed two earned runs while striking out 14 in 12 innings.

Los Angeles Dodgers

On January 7, 2016, Maeda signed an eight-year, $25 million, contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers that included $10 million per year in incentives. The deal can come to a total of around $90.2 million throughout the course of his eight-year contract if Maeda reaches all of his incentives. The incentives include an annual roster bonus of $150,000 if he is on the 25-man opening-day active roster. He would receive $6.5 million annually based on starts: $1 million each for 15 and 20, and $1.5 million apiece for 25, 30 and 32 starts. He would earn $3.5 million annually based on innings pitched: $250,000 for 90 and each additional 10 through 190, and $750,000 for 200. He enters the contract in his age 28 season, meaning the contract lasts until the end of his age 34 season. The Dodgers also paid a $20 million posting fee to the Hiroshima Carp. Maeda made his Major League debut on April 6, 2016, pitching six shutout innings. He hit a home run off Andrew Cashner of the San Diego Padres in his second at-bat for his first major league hit. He was the only Dodgers starter to remain healthy for the entire season, making 32 starts with a 16–11 record and 3.48 ERA and was selected by Baseball America to their all-rookie team. He made three starts in the post-season for the Dodgers, losing one game in the Division Series and pitching two no-decisions in the Championship Series. He allowed eight runs in 10 ²⁄₃ innings. He finished third in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year Award behind his teammate Corey Seager and Trea Turner of the Washington Nationals.

Pitching style

Maeda is a 6 ft 1 in (185 cm), 175 lb (79 kg) right-handed pitcher. With a three-quarters delivery Maeda throws two fastballs (four-seam, two-seam) that sit in 89–92 mph (tops out at 95 mph), an average change-up, a curveball, and an above-average slider in low-80s, which is his best pitch. He also has excellent command, posting a BB/9 (walks per nine innings rate) of 1.9 in his NPB career.