Table of Content
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.
The point of this team meeting, then, was that Baldelli understands how demoralizing it is for his players to be in so many close games but fall just short, time after time. Heck, Cruz is legging out infield hits and triples at age 40. The team set a franchise record with 27 scoreless innings to start a season. In his big league debut, Maeda scattered five hits and struck out four over six innings. Puig hit the season’s second home run, in the eighth inning. Maeda has inside the upper third of the strike zone on 11.9% of his pitches this season.
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.
Even if they do go for hits, they’re likely singles. You can pitch around a single, but I’ve yet to hear of an instance of someone pitching around a home run. You’ll notice that Maeda missed his east-west location on each of these pitches, and he just doesn’t have the type of fastball that can afford to be in the spots these three were. That, more than anything, has hurt Maeda this year. He has been up in the zone too frequently, and hitters haven’t missed when he has served them a cookie.
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
Entire sections of the upper deck were populated in the single digits. Hours before the game, Maeda sat with catcher A.J. Will Ireton, Maeda’s interpreter, crouched behind them. Ireton scribbled notes in a palm-sized, black-and-white composition book. Their scouting finished, Maeda retired to the trainers’ room. Maeda lives in Tokyo with his wife, Saho, daughter and son.
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers aren't giving up hope they can still reach the playoffs, even as they remain multiple games below .500. But they were no match for Cleveland, which battered Maeda with long solo home runs by Jose Ramirez and two by Franmil Reyes. They also doubled three times, with Ramirez and Jake Bauers driving in runs.
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 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.
Far more importantly, though, there's a baseball competition that is set up as if a baseball board game was placed on the actual field. Everyone was out looking to have a good time. Morocco's national soccer team is set to return home Tuesday after accomplishing the seemingly impossible feat of finishing fourth at the World Cup in Qatar. Tens of thousands of Moroccans were expected to turn out to greet the players. Max Kepler hit a two-out single that sent Maeda scampering home to end the ballgame.
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.
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".
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 teams through the posting system in December 2015. 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 two games in the pool rounds, against China and Netherlands, amassing a 2–0 record with 0.00 ERA, 0.30 WHIP, allowing just two hits, one 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment