Mets' Kodai Senga set for season debut Friday against Atlanta: He's '100% ready'
Mets pitcher Kodai Senga looks on from the dugout during an MLB game against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets will unveil a pitcher on Friday night who last season had a sub-3.00 ERA, struck out 202, was a National League All-Star and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
Pretty good, as almost-trade-deadline additions go, or in the case of Kodai Senga, an almost-trade-deadline return.
“Very excited,” Carlos Mendoza said before Thursday night’s 3-2 win over Atlanta in 10 innings. “We’re all excited.”
That makes particular sense in the case of the first-year manager. He never has so much as seen Senga pitch in a game in person.
Said SNY analyst and former Mets pitcher Ron Darling, “It’s huge. It’s as big as big can be.”
Such is the anticipation over the 2024 debut of Senga, the Mets’ best pitcher last season. He is slated to start against Atlanta’s Charlie Morton at Citi Field.
There are no guarantees, of course.
The Yankees’ ace got a late start to his season also, and Gerrit Cole was last seen getting lit up by the Mets at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.
But Senga is not being asked to bail out a sinking ship but rather to bolster one of the hottest teams in baseball. For their latest trick, the Mets on Thursday somehow won with three hits, helped by Atlanta getting a runner thrown out at third base in the ninth inning, botching a squeeze play in the 10th and allowing the winning run when rightfielder Ramon Laureano overran a fly ball by Jeff McNeil.
If Senga simply comes close to what he did last year, it will be enough, at least for the short term. And if the Mets do qualify for the playoffs, he will become essential.
“Obviously, it’s been a long road for him and for all of us,” Mendoza said. “But I’m just excited we’re finally getting our guy back here, and it’s going to be a huge help for us.”
Francisco Lindor told Newsday, “Senga’s fantastic. He’s our All-Star. He was an All-Star last year, and he’s one of the best pitchers in the game.
“I think it’s great to not just have him pitching but also to have him around. Everybody loves Senga around here. He’s a great person. Looking forward to it.”
Senga began the season on the injured list after being diagnosed with a right shoulder strain in late February. It was an ominous development, but one that no one expected to take this long to resolve.
“I do expect him to make a bunch of starts for us this year,” team president David Stearns said at the time.
His last tune-up outing, on Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse, did not go well. He allowed five runs, all in the fourth inning. He threw 79 pitches.
But after a bullpen session at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, he said he merely was tinkering in that outing and was unconcerned.
“I was definitely working toward something, just trying to figure out what I can and cannot do at that point,” Senga said through an interpreter.
“Not really focused on getting the hitters out, but just really trying to understand myself. So I think it was really productive.”
The Mets will use a six-man rotation with Senga, which should help him ease back. Darling said he would not judge Senga until he has had two or three starts.
Still, Darling said, “It’s like getting a legit 1A kind of starter . . . The only caveat is when he’s slotted you have six, so how does that impact all the other guys?”
Senga deemed himself “100% ready” physically, and said he is ready to throw close to 100 pitches.
How long might it take him to get his trademark “ghost forkball” into midseason form? That is TBD.
“I think I just need to be smart and calm about using my pitches, not getting too excited,” he said. “Again, controlling myself and understanding myself. I just want to throw as many pitches in as many innings as possible.”
Senga called sitting out the last several months “very, very difficult, both mentally and physically.”
One of his motivations to return was how well the Mets have played recently.
“The team is in such a great spot,” he said. “I want to be a productive member of the team and continue to push the team toward the playoffs.
“The vibes are so high. I'm there in the locker room with them, but I'm not really in the circle with them. So I was just really itching to get back out there for them.”
Senga likely would have been the Opening Day starter had he not been hurt. Four months late, his Opening Day is Friday.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.