Kenta Maeda

• Hiroshima Toyo Carp (since 2007)

Kenta Maeda (Japanese前 田 健 太, Kenta Maeda; born April 11, 1988 in Tadaoka, Osaka Prefecture) is a Japanese baseball player. The right-handed pitcher played since the beginning of his professional career in 2008 as a starter for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Central League. In 2010 he received the Sawamura Award for the best pitcher in Japanese professional baseball.

In the PL Gakuen High School from Tondabayashi Maeda participated twice at Koshien, in the spring Koshien 2006 reached PL Gakuen with him the semi-finals. After graduating, he was drafted in the first round in 2006 by the Carp. In 2007, he was only used in the second team, made his debut in the first team he was on 5 April 2008 in a home match against Yokohama. Already in his rookie season in 2008 ran Maeda as a regular starter for the first team on Hiroshima and scored in a total of 19 inserts 9 Wins and 2 Losses. In 2009, he led with 29 starts next to teammate Kan Otake and Yakult pitcher Masanori Ishikawa the Central League. At the start of the 2010 season Maeda was one of the most successful pitchers in the league, opened the All- Star Game for the Central League and led to the end of the season to the league with 15 wins and an ERA of 2.29. The performance was awarded the Sawamura Award 2010. Maeda is the first winner of the Pacific League since Kenshin Kawakamis Award in 2004 and the first for Hiroshima since Shinji Sasaoka 1991.

In April 2012, Maeda threw in a game against the Yokohama BayStars than 74 Pitcher league history a no-hitter.