Rakuten Eagles pitcher Kenta Maeda, who previously played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams in Major League Baseball, held a press conference at Rakuten Mobile Park in Sendai on the 16th to announce his signing. number will be "18".

Several teams, including The Giants and Yakult, had been investigating the right-handed pitcher, who has a total of 165 wins in Japan and the US, but Maeda's enthusiasm to use him as a starter, which he is particular about, and the favorable terms of a two-year contract plus performance-based payments totaling 400 million yen, led to his capture.

This season, no pitcher on the team reached the required innings pitched. Fujii had the most with 109 2/3 innings, and Furusawa had the most wins among the starters with seven. Hayakawa, who served as the opening pitcher for two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025, only managed two wins. He underwent surgery on his left shoulder in September and is expected to take four to five months to return to the game, meaning he may not be ready for the opening game. General Manager Kazuhisa Ishii, who was also present at the press conference, expressed his hopes for Hayakawa to add depth to the starting lineup, saying, "We'd like to see a core addition to our starting lineup. We've had a really poor balance this year, so I think it's great that we've got a member who can form a solid scrum with the starting lineup."

The veteran, who will turn 38 in April next year, is set to shine once again in Sendai.

◆ Kenta Maeda: Born April 11, 1988, in Osaka Prefecture. Age 37. Played in Koshien in his first year (summer) and third year (spring) while attending PL Gakuen High School. Drafted in the first round of the 2006 high school draft by the Hiroshima Carp. Moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2015 offseason and played in MLB until this season. Represented Japan in the 2013 WBC and the 2015 Premier12. Awards include two Sawamura Awards, two win titles, three ERA, two strike out titles, three Best Nine selections, and five Golden Glove Awards. 185 cm, 84 kg. Right-handed pitcher, right-handed batter.