{"id":79714,"date":"2024-07-11T16:29:03","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T20:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=79714"},"modified":"2024-07-11T16:29:03","modified_gmt":"2024-07-11T20:29:03","slug":"tigers-shift-kenta-maeda-bullpen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/11\/tigers-shift-kenta-maeda-bullpen\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers Shifting Struggling Starter to Bullpen for ‘Foreseeable Future’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tigers are shifting Kenta Maeda<\/a>, the second highest-paid player on their roster, to the bullpen for the \u201cforeseeable future.\u201d Tigers’ manager <\/span>A.J. Hinch<\/a> announced on Thursday that <\/span>the righty<\/span> will not make his next scheduled start and will instead move to the bullpen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maeda, who signed a two-year, $24 million contract with Detroit in November, has a 7.26 ERA through 16 starts. This is not the outcome the Tigers envisioned when they signed the eight-year MLB veteran. Detroit signed Maeda in part based on his second-half success last year coming back from Tommy John surgery in 2021. His fastball gained velocity while his slider emerged as a valuable put-away pitch. But things have gone in the opposite direction<\/a> in 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

While his command has remained relatively solid (7.9% walk rate), his strikeout rate has plummeted to 17.1%. Not to mention his average fastball velocity dropped to 90.3 mph, the lowest of his MLB career. Most problematically, Maeda has allowed 15 homers over 65 \u2154 innings on the year. That\u2019s two shy of his 2023 total (104 \u2153 innings) and one shy of his 2022 total (106 \u2153 innings).<\/span><\/p>\n

Maeda\u2019s next start would have come on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Detroit is making that a bullpen game instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely frustration. Nothing\u2019s really going right at this point. I\u2019m causing too much trouble to the team, and I feel sorry about that,\u201d Maeda said through interpreter Dai Sekizaki.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Kenta Maeda is heading to the bullpen \ud83d\ude2c<\/p>\n

Is this the right move by A.J. Hinch? pic.twitter.com\/iNjC6MWs7A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) July 11, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n