Kenta Maeda faced the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim a second time this spring, and he once more turned in a strong start for the Los Angeles Dodgers. On March 13 at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the right-hander had seven strikeouts and limited the Angels to one run on one hit (home run) in 3.2 innings pitched.
In the exhibition Freeway Series opener, Maeda was just as impressive, collecting four strikeouts over three perfect innings. The start was his last of the spring, as Maeda is now scheduled to pitch Tuesday against the San Diego Padres.
Concluding Spring Training on a positive note was something the 28-year-old set out to accomplish, according to Maria Guardado of MLB.com:
“I wanted to have a strong finish to this Spring Training and make sure all my pitches were working pretty well, making sure I have all the feel for all my pitches,” Maeda said through a translator. “I was able to do that.”
Overall this spring Maeda went 2-1 with a 3.00 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, four walks and 15 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched across five starts. The results were similar to his first Spring Training with the Dodgers, when Maeda went 1-2 with a 2.35 ERA and had 20 strikeouts in 23 innings over six starts.
Now slotted as the Dodgers’ No. 2 starter, Maeda is hopeful to throw 200 innings this year as a means of improving on his debut season in the Majors when he third in National League Rookie of the Year voting.
