Minnesota Twins: 3 Ways to Fix the Starting Rotation in 2021
By Otto Johnson
Minnesota Twins Rotation Solution No. 1: Fix Kenta Maeda’s Control
The first step to fixing the Twins’ rotation has to be curing whatever ails their ace pitcher, and if you have watched Maeda pitch in 2021, it’s not too difficult to see what is going wrong with the pitcher who dominated just a year before.
Kenta Maeda came over to the Twins through a trade last season and immediately lit it up. Maeda posted a 6-1 record with a 2.70 ERA, an 80-10 K-BB ratio, a 3.00 FIP, and a league-leading 0.750 WHIP, all of which combined to help him finish second in Cy Young voting.
While it’s easy to expect some regression after a shortened season that went that well, no one expected what has happened this year. An ugly 5.02 ERA, a WHIP that has doubled what it was a year ago, and a K/9 rate that has shaved two full strikeouts off its total? Yikes.
Something has to be done, because the Twins need Maeda to be at least at his career average level, a pitcher who strikes out just under 10 batters per nine innings, has an ERA under 3.90, and has extremely low WHIP numbers. How can Kenta get back to that level? The answer is simple: bring the control back.
Maeda started the year off with three starts that at first glance looked good, but two out of three weren’t up to his standards. Here were his lines for each start:
- 88 Pitches, 57 Strikes, 4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 K, 2 BB
- 75 Pitches, 52 Strikes, 6 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 1 BB
- 86 Pitches, 56 Strikes, 4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 5 K, 2 BB
There are a few things to notice here, starting with the second start. A six inning quality start with only one walk allowed, six strikeouts, and seventy-percent of the pitches going for strikes is very solid. With that being said, the seven hits were definitely an indicator that things weren’t going perfectly.
The other two starts aren’t good. Over 85 pitches in under 5 innings combined with 6 or 7 hits? That’s not good. It’s passable, but not ace level at all. His five strikeouts over those innings were solid as well.
Things got worse over his next two starts:
- 51 Pitches, 37 Strikes, 3 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 1 K, 0 BB
- 75 Pitches, 50 Strikes, 5.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 K, 0 BB
Those aren’t good starts. Even in his most recent start (5.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 8 K, 2 BB), Maeda still threw 94 pitches and labored through the start. He’s missing his spots far more than he did last year.
Maeda has to turn his control issues around in order for this rotation to succeed and I’m willing to bet he does that, as he’s just too good of a pitcher to not pull it together. I just hope that he does it sooner rather than later.