Yanks Go Yard Interview With Scout David P.

Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports

What kind of impact will Kenta Maeda and Jung Ho Kang have in the majors?

Kenta Maeda projects to be a #3 or #4 and I think that’s very reasonable. He’s been a workhorse in Japan and his control is his bread and butter. His fastball (anywhere from 89-94) command is very good and his changeup could be very tough on major leaguers. I don’t think he has enough swing-and-miss potential in his arsenal to be projected higher. If you look at the most recent success stories from Japan, they’ve all featured one devastating pitch (Darvish’s slider and curve, Tanaka’s splitter, Iwakuma’s splitter). Maeda doesn’t feature any pitch that has that much potential. There are also major questions concerning his physical makeup and whether or not he can handle starting every fifth day. I don’t have the same confidence in Maeda as I did with Tanaka and Darvish when they made the move.

As I stated in the previous question, I think Kang could be an adequate SS as long as his hitting translates. An optimistic projection for Kang is a .250-.270 hitter with 15-20 homer power and in this day and age, that’s pretty darn good. We’ve lived with Jeter’s defense at SS and we’ve also survived the Eduardo Nunez experiment. Kang could be a risk worth taking.