Kenta Maeda spent the offseason adding more bulk to his frame with the hope and goal of throwing 200 innings this season. Maeda’s first start of the spring was a bag of mixed results. He completed the scheduled two innings of work, allowed one run on a solo homer, and showed some signs of rust.
“The goal was to just pitch in a live situation, throw two innings and get my feel back,” Maeda said through a translator after his start. “I didn’t have command of all my pitches, but in terms of the feel, my body, I felt pretty good.”
Maeda’s lack of his customary pinpoint command was evident one batter into the game. He followed a first-pitch strike with four consecutive misses above and below the zone.
“He got his pitch count up a little bit, got his feet wet, but he wasn’t as sharp as I think he would like to be,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said following his club’s 7-1 loss, their first of the spring. “I think the two innings was something for Kenta to build on.”
Roberts added the expectation is for Maeda to increase his pitch count and/or potentially throw three innings in his next start. Maeda, much like Roberts, doesn’t put much stock in Spring Training results.
“If they scored five runs of me…,” Maeda said.
