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Minnesota Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda was so good against the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday, the batters knew what was coming and still couldn’t get anything going against the right-hander.
Apparently the PitchCom device used by catcher Tony Wolters was louder than the norm to the point where the home plate umpire and batter could hear the call. This didn’t affect Maeda at all, however.
He still threw two scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out two batters.
“I said nicely done,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “By the way, something to note, they knew every pitch that was coming.”
Adjustments were eventually made to the device after Baldelli had a conversation with the umpires after the second inning.
Maeda, 34, is in his sixth year in the league after coming in from Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. He started his MLB career with the Dodgers where he spent four seasons before getting traded to Minnesota in Feb. 2020.
He had an excellent debut season with the Twins, going 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA and led the league in WHIP (.750). He finished as the runner-up for the AL Cy Young Award in 2020, losing out to Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.
Maeda ended up having to miss the entire 2022 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery in Sept. 2021. Thursday was just his second spring start since the surgery.
