PHOENIX -- In front of an overflow crowd of Dodgers executives and dozens of Japanese media members, Kenta Maeda took the mound for his first official bullpen session since signing an eight-year contract in January.
Maeda, expected to secure a spot in the starting rotation, made 39 pitches to catcher Yasmani Grandal then fielded questions from reporters, one of them asking the right-hander what has been his biggest adjustment coming from Japan.
"English," he said in English, then shifted to Japanese to add: "I want to be able to answer in English."
Maeda said his due diligence since signing was to speak to countrymen Hiroki Kuroda, Hisashi Iswakuma, Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka and learn how they made the successful transition on and off the field in recent years.