Viral illness sends Maeda to IL, righty will miss 2 starts for Tigers
Detroit Tigers right-hander Kenta Maeda has been struggling on the mound.
He’s also been struggling with a viral illness, so much so that the Tigers had to place him on the 15-day injured list Saturday, retroactive to Wednesday. Maeda isn’t eligible to be activated from the injured list until May 23, meaning he will miss at least two starts.
“He played a little bit of light toss today, and he didn’t feel good,” manager A.J. Hinch said after Saturday’s game. “He’s not going to be able to make his start, and then he didn’t feel any better for the 48hour, 72-hour window. He saw our doctors again, and we made the decision to put him on the injured list. We didn’t want to lose him. He wants to pitch. But it’s impossible when you break your routine, as sick as these guys have been.”
The Tigers called up outfielder Akil Baddoo in an immediate corresponding move, but right-hander Matt Manning is expected to be promoted from Triple-A Toledo to take Maeda’s place in the starting rotation and start Monday against the Miami Marlins at Comerica Park.
Maeda, an eight-year MLB veteran, has a 6.75 ERA with 10 walks and 23 strikeouts across 302⁄3 innings in seven starts this season. The 36-year-old, who previously pitched for the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers, signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers in late November as a free agent.
So far, it hasn’t worked out.
“There’s certain parts within my mechanics that I have to clean up,” Maeda said in Japanese on April 19 after his fourth start, through interpreter Dai Sekizaki. “There’s one thing that mind is trying to do, and my body is doing something else, so there’s a little bit of a discrepancy between the mind and the body. That part needs to be all synced up. I’m having some trouble getting those to align.”
Maeda has given up an American League-leading nine home runs, averaging 2.6 home runs per nine innings. He is also averaging 6.8 strikeouts per nine innings, down from 10.1 last season.
He has struggled in four of his seven starts, including Tuesday’s outing against the Cleveland Guardians. He surrendered seven runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout in two innings, throwing just 59 pitches.
“We’ve been battling this virus going through our coaching staff and our players, and it finally hit our starting rotation,” Hinch said. “That’s where it gets really complicated. Kenta has been at the ballpark for a very short period of time. We’ve sent him home multiple days, just low energy. He played a little bit of light toss today, and he didn’t feel good.”
The viral illness that sent Maeda to the injured list stems from a health issue that impacted multiple members of the Tigers, both coaches and players, during the recent six-game road trip to New York and Cleveland.
Outfielder Mark Canha missed two games against the Guardians with an upper respiratory infection, but he returned to the lineup for Friday’s series opener against the Houston Astros at Comerica Park.
“A lot of coughing,” Canha said Friday. “I wasn’t sleeping very well in Cleveland. I had body aches and chills. It was a struggle-fest for like three days straight . ... It’s better. I slept better the last two nights. No more chills or body aches. I’m back.”
But Canha drove home by himself — rather than flying on the team plane — after Wednesday’s series finale against the Guardians, and coming off Thursday’s off day, he felt a lot better despite still sounding congested.
“Hopefully, that’s the end of this virus that came through the clubhouse,” Hinch said Friday. “It went through coaches, players. We’d like to avoid any more, but Mark had it the worst and missed a few days. Hopefully, it’s better.”
As for Maeda, his placement on the injured list comes at a time when he is struggling to compete at the highest level. His fastball velocity has ticked up since the beginning of the season, but he continues to get rocked because of poor pitch locations.
His splitter and his slider haven’t been sharp, either.
The splitter has a 26.1% whiff rate, compared to last year’s 35% whiff rate; the slider has a 20.6% whiff rate, compared to last year’s 27.2% whiff rate. As a result, his strikeout rate has fallen from 27.3% in 2023 to 17.2% in 2024.
Poor fastball command, combined with the lack of effective secondary pitches, is the primary reason for Maeda’s troubles through seven starts, but now, he will miss at least his next two starts.