Rakuten announced that it has reached an agreement on a contract with pitcher Kenta Maeda.

Maeda joined Hiroshima in the first round of the 2006 high school draft and became a first-round pick in his second year with the team in 2008. He won the pitcher triple crown of most wins, best ERA, and best strike out in 2010 and the Sawamura Award that year. He became the ace of Hiroshima, winning most strike out in 2011 and best ERA in 2012 and 2013. He won his second Sawamura Award in 2003, and in the off-season of the same year, he tried out for the Majors using the posting system.

With the Dodgers, where he played from 2016 to 2019, he achieved double-digit win three times, and has played for the Twins since 2020. In 2021, he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and missed all of 2022. He returned in 2023. This season, he played for The Tigers, pitching in seven games with a record of 0 wins and 0 losses and ERA 7.88. He has a total of 165 win in Japan and the US.