Detroit Tigers Rotation Questions Remain Unanswered After Latest Outing

The daily race for the final spot in the Detroit Tigers' rotation continued Monday afternoon as Kenta Maeda took the mound for his fourth appearance and third start of the spring against the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Stadium in Tampa Bay, Fla.

It was the veteran’s turn to answer the bell following stellar performances by Tigers youngsters Jackson Jobe on Saturday and Casey Mize on Friday. Maeda faced a stiff test in a Yankees lineup that featured the majority of the regulars.

Maeda is the type of pitcher who pitches “backwards,” meaning he throws sliders and splitters the majority of the time and uses them in traditional fastball counts. This allows his 91-92 mph fastball to get outs when hitters aren’t expecting the pitch.

Well, Maeda was greeted by Yankees lead-off hitter Austin Wells when he threw a get-me-over 90.1 mph four-seam fastball down the middle of the plate that sailed over the right-field fence for a 1-0 Tigers lead.

In Maeda’s defense, the ball was only hit 377 feet and would not have even been a home run in Yankee Stadium, even though Steinbrenner Stadium is reportedly a replica of Yankee Stadium’s dimensions.

Maeda then struck out Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger, only to leave a slider up to Paul Goldschmidt, who kept his hands in nicely and sliced it a "whopping" 378 feet to right-center field. On the next pitch, Trent Grisham "blasted" a 365-foot home run off a 92.1 mph four-seamer, again to right field, where the Steinbrenner Field bleachers welcomed the home run.

"It's hard to evaluate on a day like today," manager A.J. Hinch said to Tigers beat reporters, including the Detroit Free Press. "Because I think he did get a little bit of bad luck with balls in the air. He did miss a few bats. He did have a few deep counts. It's a mixture of everything, but we'll take the good."

"With that first leadoff homer, the way the ball sounded off the bat, the reaction of the hitter," Maeda said in Japanese, interpreted by Daichi Sekizaki. "We all thought it was going to be out, and then the wind just kind of took it."

Returning to Judge’s at-bat, it was a typical Maeda sequence: sinker (ball one), splitter (ball two), slider (called strike 2-1), splitter (foul 2-2) and splitter (swinging strike) for the strikeout.

The final line for Maeda: four innings pitched, allowing five runs (all earned) on seven hits, while walking none and striking out five Yankees hitters. Maeda pounded the zone, throwing 41 of the 61 pitches for strikes and generating a whiff rate of 26.7%, which came off of seven splitters and one sinker.

Maeda’s 61 pitches included: 24 splitters (34%) with an average speed of 83.9 mph and a proStuff+ rating of 121; 11 four-seam fastballs (18%) at an average of 91.1 mph with a proStuff+ rating of 71; ten sweepers (16%) at an average of 80.5 mph and a proStuff+ rating of 118; seven sinkers (11%) at an average of 90.4 mph and a proStuff+ rating of 86; five curveballs (8%) averaging 73.0 mph with a proStuff+ rating of 92; and four sliders (4%) at an average of 82.8 mph with a proStuff+ rating of 110.

The Tigers' brass knows what they have in Maeda, and he appears to be ready for 2025. His fastball is up a tick from last season, and his splitter was on point today. The elephant in the room is that he is in the final year of a two-year, $24 million contract.

While Jobe and Mize have been pitching better and unquestionably have brighter futures, the Tigers are not going to give Maeda away. He likely has three weeks to hone his craft to pitch in the fifth slot of the rotation to provide depth, innings, and experience. Regardless of what Jobe and Mize accomplish.

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