Los Angeles Dodgers: The must-watch battle for the fifth rotation spot
By Jason Reed
Kenta Maeda
Kenta Maeda and Ross Stripling are very similar despite having completely opposite roles when they first graced the big leagues.
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Maeda as an international free agent with the intents of making him a starting pitcher. Maeda’s contract is heavily incentive based, all of which relate to starting pitching.
Maeda led the Dodgers in innings pitched in his rookie year and was the anchor that held down the ship while Clayton Kershaw was injured. The MLB workload did catch up to Maeda at the end of that year but he was the most consistent pitcher on the team for most of the year.
Struggles continued into the 2017 season and a deep starting rotation convinced the Dodgers to move Maeda to the bullpen at the end of the season so he could have a playoff role.
Maeda thrived in the bullpen and looked like the 2016 version of himself. He was able to pitch aggressively and was a huge arm out of the bullpen in the NLDS and NLCS for the Dodgers.
Maeda juggled between the starting rotation and bullpen in 2018 and saw better overall numbers than the year prior. He ended the year and headed into October as a member of the bullpen, although he did not look as dominant there as he did the year before.
Maeda probably deserves the job on day one with the chance to lose it if he cannot perform. It definitely wouldn’t be surprising to see him back in the bullpen come October.