Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda is struggling, and the home run is to blame

Table of Content

• Packers defeat Rams 24-12 to keep playoff hopes alive
• Report: Red Sox sign Justin Turner to two-year deal
• Twins try to rebuild Colome's confidence as he has another setback
• The Padres' lineup with Xander Bogaerts (and, eventually, Fernando Tatis Jr.) is downright absurd
• Left field options for the Yankees

It has been an ugly start to the season for Maeda, but given the root of his struggles, there's good reason to believe he’ll turn things around. No one should be giving up on Maeda just yet. If he can correct his command issues, he’ll resemble the pitcher who stabilized the Dodgers rotation amidst all its injuries a season ago while turning in a top-25 fantasy season. Anyhow, according to the Baseball-Reference Play IndexMaeda is the first pitcher since Tommy Milone in 2011 to homer in his MLB debut and just the 11th since 1913, which is the back end of searchable data. "When Kenta has missed, the hitters have been there," Baldelli said ruefully of a pitcher who has not resembled the Cy Young runner-up of a year ago. Defrocked closer Alex Colome bounced a 95-mph cutter off the bill of Josh Naylor's helmet, then walked three hitters to force in a run.

Over the league-wide home-run surge of the last two seasons, just two pitchers—Jaime Garcia and Francisco Liriano—put up an HR/FB ratio higher than 18%. Maeda could be terrible the rest of the season, and his HR/FB ratio would still likely fall a few percentage points. The saucy, uni-testicular catcher continued his red-hot return. In the second inning he doubled in Donaldson.

Packers defeat Rams 24-12 to keep playoff hopes alive

Clayton Kershaw thrust his arms skyward and howled. The Padres are the first team in history to be shut out of its first three games. When he has driven the ball down and below the zone, he has produced good results. Thanks to Statcast, we can highlight plate appearance results by location. Here’s what Maeda’s chart looks like this season.

On July 25, 2020, Maeda made his Twins debut. On August 12, he earned his 50th MLB career win. Now that we have the what, we can turn to the why. Maeda is up in the zone much more often than he was last year. The following zone profiles from Brooks Baseball show how location has been an issue for Maeda this season.

Report: Red Sox sign Justin Turner to two-year deal

An increase in fly balls invariably means an increase in homers allowed but the bigger issue is that a greater percentage of those are leaving the yard. Maeda’s HR/FB ratio this season is 22.6%, which, again, would easily lead the league in a typical season. Last year, Maeda posted an 11.8% HR/FB ratio, which was tied for 47th in the majors. As a team, the Dodgers are completely obliterating San Diego.

MLB Scores Yesterday's MLB Games, Scores from any date in Major League history, MLB Probable Pitchers, Baseball-Reference Stream Finder, ... It's also available for football, basketball and hockey. Martinez over Justin Turner The Dodgers over the weekend signed J.D. Martinez to be their designated hitter, and saw franchise stalwart Justin Turner leave for a similar role with the Red Sox. We look at the choice of Martinez over Turner, with was surprising in how vcal the Dodgers were in wanting to bring Turner back to Los Angeles. It might be tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now, but Baldelli wanted to make sure his team knows that he recognizes the toll this stretch has taken on them.

Twins try to rebuild Colome's confidence as he has another setback

He also became the youngest pitcher in Japanese baseball history to achieve the pitching Triple Crown in the same year. He won the Sawamura Award for the second time in 2015. More than half of the balls hitters have put in play against Maeda have been in the air, and more than one-fifth of those have turned into souvenirs. Now, to be fair, a 22.6% HR/FB ratio is unsustainable, even for the most homer-friendly pitcher in the league.

Of course, in order to get to Manfredball, first we need to recap the baseball game that was. Michael Pineda made what honestly better be his last 2021 Twins start. Despite his very-goodness over the last few seasons for Minnesota, his expiring contract means its time for a trade. Maeda is also pitching a shutout through the sixth inning, which means that he has more runs than the entire Padres team combined — through the entire season so far.

International career

Cruz scored twice on the night, and Buxton homered, too. The Twins even managed four runs for only the second time in nine games. The last time the Twins started the season 7-15, in fact, was in 2016, a dismal season that resulted in Terry Ryan's firing as general manager and the hiring of Derek Falvey to run the team. Only in 2012, when they opened 6-16, have the Twins started the season worse than this one. Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda is surrendering too many home runs and looks nothing like the pitcher who finished third in 2016 NL Rookie of the Year voting.

In the first two games of this three-game series at PETCO Park, the Dodgers outscored the Padres 18-0. Maeda’s homer put them up 5-0 in the fourth inning on Wednesday. Maeda also pitched in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 tournament, where he allowed two earned runs while striking out 14 in 12 innings. Innings over four games and allowed one run on four hits. Right-handed batters had just four hits in 32 at-bats against him in the post-season. Let’s take a look at some of those homers, with the understanding that there is a silver lining for Maeda involved.

He K'd 12 batters (8 consecutively, which was a new Twins record) with 2 BBs. The no-hitter was broken by Eric Sogard, the first batter Maeda faced in the top of the 9th. In the postseason Maeda made eight relief appearances, allowing 3 runs in 6.2 innings.

The tag by Ellis appeared to reach Cory Spangenberg a moment after Spangenberg touched the plate. A 2.35 earned-run average in the Cactus League allayed some concern. Maeda impressed Dodgers officials and rival evaluators with his ability to utilize his changeup and curveball. His slider earned raves in Japan, but he will require more than one off-speed offering to thrive in the majors.

The Padres' lineup with Xander Bogaerts (and, eventually, Fernando Tatis Jr.) is downright absurd

That basically ended the Twins' chances, on a night in which their offense did a reasonable job of staying close without the benefit of facing Twins pitching. The group steadied itself as Maeda trotted the bases. His teammates hung back on the bench, feigning ignorance, preparing Maeda for a rookie’s rite of passage. He spread his arms wide and waited for their embrace. The wait was brief, and the admiration ran deep. "Twins' Kenta Maeda falls one inning short in bid for MLB's first no-hitter of 2020".

But the Twins actually led the AL with a 42 percent hard-hit rate entering Tuesday, and their average exit velocity of 89.7 mph was second only to the Blue Jays. But the results haven’t followed -- just ask Kirilloff, who entered the game 1-for-18 but was hitting the ball well enough for a .293 expected batting average and an expected slugging percentage of .608, per Statcast. The starting rotation has actually been quite effective this season, ranking second in the American League with a 3.72 ERA entering Tuesday. Maeda, the club’s Opening Day starter, hasn’t shared that success as he’s worked through mechanical adjustments. And though Maeda felt good about that work, Cleveland’s batters still tagged his mistakes for three home runs -- one by Ramírez and two from Franmil Reyes. "It's not just the wins and losses, it's the way these games have played out that has made them especially tough to stomach," Baldelli said.