Dodgers: Five players who will improve the most in 2018

3. Kenta Maeda

Kenta Maeda is entering his third season in the MLB and not many know his place for 2018. Maeda is naturally a starting pitcher, however, he looked absolutely dominant in the bullpen for the Dodgers at the end of 2017 and in the postseason. That performance will earn Maeda some looks in the ‘pen, however, a return to the starting rotation is best for business.

Not only is the Dodgers’ starting rotation stacked with left-handed pitching, they still need to sum up the back end of the rotation. That is where Maeda will slide in and will perform similarly to how he started his career in 2016.

The fact of the matter was that Kenta Maeda got tired. He was the workhorse for the Dodgers in 2016, throwing the innings on the team and the most of his career. This led to a dip in production late in the season that carried over to the start of 2017.

However, when Maeda was on significant rest or was asked for a small workload, he delivered. Maeda started 10 games on six or more days of rest for a 3.88 ERA. In his nine starts on four days rest he had a 5.08 ERA.

The Dodgers should and will recognize that this season, placing Maeda in the back of the rotation with small workloads to maximize his performance. Expect a lot of five and six innings starts out of Maeda that keep the Dodgers in games.

At the end of the season that will all add up and Maeda will sneakily have one of the best production lines for the Dodgers.