Kodai Senga assumes No. 1 role in Mets' rotation
New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga during a spring training workout, Tuesday Feb. 13, 2024 in Port St. Lucie FL. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — In Year 2 with the Mets, Kodai Senga is No. 1.
Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander are long gone. Yoshinobu Yamamoto elected to join the loaded Dodgers instead of the iffier Mets. Corbin Burnes got traded to the Orioles, Blake Snell remains a free agent, and the Mets never appeared particularly interested in either for this don’t-call-it-a-bridge year.
That leaves Senga, the forkball virtuoso and a recipient of down-ballot Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year votes last season, as the top pitcher in the Mets’ remade rotation.
Although he may not be a bona fide ace yet — that title typically takes more than one strong season to earn — he is the best the Mets have at the dawn of a new year. Manager Carlos Mendoza hasn’t made it official, but an Opening Day assignment may well follow.
“The fact that I’m getting these types of questions means some other people out there might think of me that way,” Senga said through an interpreter of being the No. 1 starter. “That was a result of me just staying healthy and running through the season last season. I plan to do no different, just stay healthy and get through ’24 and we’ll see what happens.”
Mendoza said: “He did it the second half of the year last year. And he handled it really, really well. The numbers speak for themselves. I don’t think it’s fair to put that type of pressure on him in his second year. He went through a lot, making that transition to the big leagues, coming from not only a different culture but a different game here. And I don’t think it’s fair to him to put that type of pressure. We want Senga to be the best version of himself and continue to improve on his pitches and a lot of the things.”
Lots have changed for Senga relative to this time last year, when he was easing in as a rookie, fresh-over-from-Japan No. 3 starter behind a pair of likely future Hall of Famers.
The general manager and manager that recruited him are gone. Most of the rotation has turned over. And the fascination and hype that accompanied him when he was such an unknown have lessened, to the point that his light bullpen session Wednesday — during the Mets’ first workout for pitchers and catchers — featured no coaches and no advanced technology to assist.
But at least one piece remains the same: The Mets are not committing to keeping Senga on a normal schedule.
Last year, they managed his workload very carefully, so much so that he pitched on four days of rest — regular rest — just three times in 29 starts. All of the other outings included extra days off via breaks in the schedule for the team, inserting a sixth starter for that turn or otherwise rejiggering the rotation.
They might be looking at more of the same for 2024.
“It’s going to be a lot of conversations,” Mendoza said. “It’s going to be day to day, not only with him but with Hef [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner]. A lot of people are going to be involved in the decision-making as well, whether it’s his trainers, our trainers. It’s going to be fluid.”
Senga said: “Whether it’s short rest or long rest, I plan to be ready for anything that comes my way.”
It was hard to argue with the results last time around. He finished with a 2.98 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 202 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings, ending up second in NL Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in NL Cy Young voting.
Areas of desired improvement include, he said, decreasing his walks (more than one out of every 10 batters) and pitching better on the road (3.68 ERA). He blamed the latter on the travel — inherent to a major-league schedule — throwing his body out of whack, but he thinks he can do better having lived through it once.
And then there is an unspecified something new that Senga has been working on — a new pitch shape, Mendoza said, teased by Senga with a coyness central to his fun-loving, not-all-serious side that the manager is starting to learn.
“But it’s still a work in progress,” Senga said. “So maybe we’ll find out soon.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
