When Kenta Maeda made his MLB debut on April 6, 2016, against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, Maeda threw six innings of shutout baseball.
In the top of the second inning, he struck out Padres pitcher Andrew Cashner for his first major – strikeout.
In his second at-bat against Cashner, he hit his first major league home run. Baseball America named him to their all-rookie team after he had a career-high 32 starts and posted a 16-11 record with a 3.48 ERA.
One loss and two no-decisions for the Dodgers came during his post-season appearances, which included three starts. He threw 102 1/3 innings and surrendered eight runs.
With Corey Seager and Trea Turner, he was voted in third place for the National League Rookie of the Year Award.
As a starter in 2017, Maeda had an ERA of 5.16 in April and May, forcing him out of the rotation and into the bullpen role.
June 9 was his first appearance in the relief pitcher’s role, and he earned his first professional save.
However, he returned to the bullpen after that outing because of the Dodgers’ glut of starting pitchers, and only allowed one run on three hits in five innings on June 18.
As for his relief appearances, he participated in just one game and returned to the starting rotation with an 8-2 record and 2.70 earned run average from June 18 through August 25.
How Much Does Kenta Maeda Make?
Kenta Maeda gets an annual average salary of $3,125,000. Maeda will receive a basic salary of $3,000,000 in 2022.