Kenta Maeda stays optimistic while enduring an unfamiliar absence from baseball

Before this season, the longest Kenta Maeda had been away from baseball in his career was 10 days.

Now after undergoing Tommy John surgery, the Twins' starting pitcher is facing nine months to a year away from the sport.

"This whole Tommy John rehab is really a long process, and it's only been two weeks since I had my surgery [Sept. 1]," Maeda said in Japanese through an interpreter. "So far, I'm really optimistic about where I'm at, and I'm really looking forward to the next steps in the rehab process, and I want to be able to go back and throw as soon as possible."

But Maeda added he knows with such a lengthy road ahead of him, there's bound to be frustrating times when he wants to play but can only watch. But the 33-year-old knows the best way for him to recover is to not rush it.

Maeda has been in Dallas since Aug. 25, having surgery there and working at a local rehab facility since. He plans to stay there through October. The Twins hope he can return to the mound late in the 2022 season.

"If I can pitch in 2022, that'd be great. But is that a must? I don't know. I don't think so," Maeda said. "I think what's important here is to fully recover, and if I'm in a condition to be able to pitch, I'll pitch."

When Maeda first came to MLB from Japan in 2016, he already had minor damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. His orthopedic surgeon, Rangers team physician Keith Meister, performed a relatively new aspect to the surgery, though, that is supposed to trim the recovery time down from at least a year. Meister implants an internal brace around the ligament to aid in its healing.

For his own rehab, it's mostly been simple exercises and some cardio for now. Besides that, he can't do much more than binge-watch Netflix.

"It's really difficult when you only have one arm to do everything in your daily life," Maeda said.

Even though he's several states away and many months removed from rejoining his team, Maeda said he still makes a point to check in on the Twins and how they're doing.

"I hear some guys when they're away from the team for so long, they just want to get away from baseball and not watch baseball at all, but I don't think that way," he said. "I try to stay involved in baseball as much as possible and that's what motivates me to go through this long rehab process."

That, and he knows he's not ready to call time on his career yet.