Los Angeles Dodgers: Three players that will have career years in 2019
By Jason Reed
3. Kenta Maeda
Kenta Maeda is certainly in his prime right now and is probably not going to get much better than he can be in 2019. This does not guarantee that Maeda will throw the best year of his career, as the best might be behind him.
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It isn’t. And while Maeda can be productive for the rest of his Dodgers’ career, 2019 is the perfect time for Maeda to peak as a big leaguer as he will be turning 31 on April 11.
Maeda was great for the Dodgers in his rookie year. He willed a staff that was missing Clayton Kershaw and led the team in innings pitched, finishing with a 3.48 ERA in 32 starts.
However, the workload started to get to Maeda, who fizzled out late in the year and started the year off extremely slow in 2017. He finished that season with a 4.22 ERA and it was discovered heading into the postseason that he made a great bullpen arm.
He bounced in and out of the bullpen in 2018, making 20 starts opposed to 19 bullpen appearances. His ERA went back down under four, 3.81, but still was not as good as it could have been.
Maeda is one of those pitchers that looks absolutely brilliant in one outing and extremely hittable the next. It all depends on his location, as he is not a flamethrower, and how his offseason stuff is treating him.
His changeups looked absolutely filthy in his spring starts against the Seattle Mariners and as long as he can continue to mix up the looks he should succeed.
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It also helps that Maeda is going to be battling for a spot on the league’s best starting rotation. Natural competition makes everyone better and Maeda could potentially even fall under a three ERA in 2019.