A team of MLB All-Stars are facing off the Japanese National Team this week in Japan as part of the 2014 Japan All-Star Series. On Wednesday, they faced Samurai Japan and Kenta Maeda, who will likely be the next potentially dominant Japanese pitcher to be posted. Maeda looked pretty good while pitching five shutout innings, though we don’t have the benefit of PITCHf/x at the Kyocera Dome.
Final line – five scoreless innings, two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. Maeda also recorded six ground outs, three fly outs, a pair of pop-ups, and two line outs.
What stuck out to me most in this video was the amount of weak contact Maeda generated. Look at how many times he jams hitters and forces them into less than ideal contact.
His posting process sure will be interesting.
Shohei Ohtani, who threatened to circumvent Japan’s draft process a couple years ago and come right to America, also pitched for Samurai Japan and threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
His posting process won’t commence for another few years, so don’t get too excited yet.
