Mets ace Kodai Senga set to start against Atlanta on Friday
New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga delivers against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
MIAMI — In Kodai Senga’s world, it’s late March.
He went through a long, mostly boring throwing program. He made a handful of starts in a low-pressure environment. He is itching to get to the real thing, facing major-league hitters in games that count.
That is why, as their best pitcher nears the end of his personal spring training, the Mets aren’t sweating his poor appearance over the weekend. They plan for him to make his season debut against Atlanta on Friday night at Citi Field.
As long as he continues to feel well over the next few days, Senga will return from the injured list, where he has spent the entire season because of shoulder and triceps problems.
“Everything is trending in the right direction,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said: “He said he’s ready to go. He’s eager to go.”
Hefner estimated that Senga will be limited to about five innings and 85 pitches in his first game.
The Mets decided not to deviate from their Senga intentions based on his ugly outing Saturday with Triple-A Syracuse. He gave up five runs in three innings-plus, throwing 79 pitches.
Their thinking: Those results don’t matter much, just as they wouldn’t during Grapefruit League action in Port St. Lucie.
“Everything is positive,” Mendoza said. “Obviously, he had to grind, he had to work, they made him work. But at the end of the day, it’s [about] how he’s feeling.”
Senga’s signature splitter abandoned him, Mendoza said. That usually doesn’t have any predictive value for his subsequent start.
“He doesn’t want to be bad. He wanted to pitch better,” Hefner said. “But I don’t think he was worried about the results. He’s mostly worried about being healthy and making sure his shoulder and elbow and body feel good.
“He’s eager. He sees where the team’s at and knows what we’re up against these last 2 1⁄2 months and wants to be a part of it — not that he hasn’t been a part of it, but he wants to contribute on the field.”
The Mets will insert Senga into what will become a six-man rotation, so none of the other starters is at risk of losing his spot. The club prefers that arrangement — which will mean carrying seven relievers instead of eight — to give everybody extra rest.
It’s not just about Senga, either. Christian Scott (most innings ever), Luis Severino (most innings since 2018), Jose Quintana (already way more innings than last year) and Sean Manaea (close to as many innings as last year) also have workloads worth monitoring.
“We gotta keep all of our guys in mind,” Hefner said. “Not just Kodai.”
Extra bases
Quintana recovered from his recent illness and is set to pitch on Tuesday night against the Yankees . . . The Mets traded Tyler Jay, a reliever recently designated for assignment, to the Brewers for minor-league righthander TJ Shook. Shook, 26, has a 4.90 ERA in Double-A this season but has struck out 77 batters in 64 1⁄3 innings . . . Mark Vientos is fine, according to Mendoza, after getting hit in the helmet on a pickoff attempt by Marlins catcher Nick Fortes. Vientos was slow to get up but remained in the game.
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.
