Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty to get rotation boost as insider predicts Japanese star’s resurgence after 7.36 ERA in 2024

The Detroit Tigers have got a good rotation, led by the likes of reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and returning Jack Flaherty. However, all eyes will be on Japanese ace Kenta Maeda, who had a terrible 2024 campaign, posting a 7.26 ERA across his first 16 starts. Given his struggles, the Tigers moved him to the bullpen.

Now entering 2025, Maeda is set to reclaim his spot in the rotation, as his first spring training start this season against the Philadelphia Phillies was inspiring. He struck out four hitters without allowing any hits across two innings. Moreover, he had an extra zip on his fastball, which was recorded as high as 93.7 mph on one pitch.

During Monday's episode of Tiger Territory, The Athletic's Cody Stavenhagen joins cohost Kieran Steckley to discuss Maeda's reclaimation of his rotational spot in the Tigers.

"It's a good starting point, right? We got a long way to go," Stavenhagen said (2:50 onwards).

"Kenta is going to continue to build up the pitch count. He's going to have to go multiple times through an order, but he is indeed throwing harder. The fastball hovering around 92 is exactly what you want. The splitter looked good. The sweeper looked good, too.

"He had three effective pitches going. It was only two innings, but I like the fact that he faced some actual Major League hitters—Alec Bohm and some others. I mean, what did he have? Three punchies or four? Four punchouts, I believe. And they were all against guys with varying levels of Major League experience."

Stavenhagen also said that it was an "A+" outing for Kenta Maeda and will go a long way in making his case for returning to the starting rotation.

"I'm telling you guys, the Tigers probably aren't going to pay him $10 million to just go away at the end of spring," Stavenhagen added. "He's going to be on this team. And if he continues to throw like this, he's going to have a very strong case to be in the rotation."

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Kenta Maeda expresses happiness after successful spring training start

Kenta Maeda was locked in against the Phillies hitters on Saturday. Maeda's velocity, which was hovering around 89-90 mph last spring training, saw a noticeable jump of 2-3 mph on the speed gun.

“I throw fast now,” Maeda said last week.

He also expressed his nervousness to start the spring training game on Saturday.

“This one definitely felt different,” Maeda said Saturday through translator Dai Sekizaki.

“I usually feel more of a joy just to go out there and see how I feel in Game 1 of Spring Training. This was different. There were some nerves in me. I haven’t felt that in a while. That was very exciting.”

If Maeda reclaims his rotational spot back and continues to be effective, the Tigers will have a formidable rotation with Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, Reep Olsen and Alex Cobb.