Mets' Kodai Senga healthy but will 'ramp up slowly' during spring training
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Having emerged from an offseason that he described as half-rehabilitation, half-normal, Kodai Senga declared himself completely healthy Tuesday, hopeful for a full 2025 after missing nearly all of last year.
Now comes the tricky part for the Mets’ best pitcher: Staying that way.
“I’m not worried at all,” Senga said through an interpreter. “I just need to ramp up slowly, get through spring training healthy and get through the year healthy.”
Senga totaled 10 1/3 innings — including three appearances in the playoffs — in 2024 after dealing with shoulder, triceps and calf injuries. Due to that unfortunate series of events, he didn’t feel fully healthy until early January, he said.
Several times, Senga mentioned that need/desire to progress slowly during spring training, an extra bit of caution so as to not get hurt. Manager Carlos Mendoza said he didn’t know yet what form that will take specifically.
“He dealt with a lot last year. Not a secret, right?” Mendoza said. “We’ll see what he looks like. I know [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner] visited with him in Japan not too long ago and the reports were really good. We just gotta see the intensity and how he’s going to bounce back and things like that. But our goal is to have him ready to break camp.”
Hefner’s check-in was the Mets’ second of the offseason. Head athletic trainer Joseph Golia made the trip in December.
Senga was an All-Star with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts in 166 1/3 innings as a rookie in 2023. In a newly rebuilt rotation that includes Sean Manaea, David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas, Senga should be at the top — if he can stay on the mound. He made one start in the regular season in 2024.
“Man, those five innings were electric,” Mendoza said. “You're watching him pitch and it's like, 'Man, this is real.' It means a lot if we can have a healthy Senga.”
As for regrets over pitching in October, when he wasn’t quite physically prepared the way he would be during a normal season?
“I’m glad that I was able to play there. I’m grateful that they called on me and I was able to get in there,” Senga said. “Obviously, it’s something that the whole team looks forward to and works toward for the entirety of the season and I’m glad I was able to experience that. And now that I have experienced that, I can work toward that this year. Again, staying healthy is going to help me push the team to our ultimate goal.”
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.
