In this Mets season, which is near the realm of planning toward 2024 and beyond, Kodai Senga bears watching.
The Japanese right-hander is part of the organization’s present and future, the brightest spot in a rotation that at minimum will need retooling for next season. Here is what the Mets need to discover between now and then: Is Senga an ace in the making?
If the Mets can answer that question it might help determine their desperation level to acquire pitching help this winter.
Senga, who pitched six strong innings Saturday night in the Mets’ 5-1 loss to the Dodgers — he allowed one earned run on four hits and two walks and struck out nine — has shown top-of-the-rotation stuff. But there also have been enough outings in which opponents have been disciplined enough to avoid swinging at the “ghost fork” leading Senga’s pitch-count to surge and turning him into a five-inning pitcher.
The impressive numbers include Senga’s 122 strikeouts through his first 17 MLB starts, which ranks behind only Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan among Mets pitchers to begin a career.
Kodai Senga has recorded an impressive number of strikeouts to start his MLB career. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post“Anybody who can strike guys out at the rate he can, that is going to play,” reliever Adam Ottavino said. “It’s been awesome to watch and he’s a hard worker. I really believe in him.”
On Saturday night, Senga left the mound for the final time after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. David Peralta hit a comebacker that Senga flipped to home plate for the final out. The crowd rose in appreciation and gave Senga, at 103 pitches, a proper sendoff for keeping the Mets in a 1-1 game. The game unraveled later, with non-competitive at-bats by Mark Canha, Brett Baty and Luis Guillorme in the eighth inning while the tying and go-ahead runs were on base. Baty then misplayed a pop up in the ninth, helping the Dodgers to bury the Mets.
Senga, who owns a 2.37 ERA over his last six starts, spent the early part of the season adjusting to the larger baseball used in the American game. That transition appears over.
“I think the biggest part is I am able to play against these hitters, not just against the ball,” Senga said through his interpreter. “I am able to throw with more confidence. I can face them and not the ball.”
Just the fact Senga was selected to the NL All-Star team as a replacement — he traveled to Seattle, but declined to pitch so he could focus on the second half of the season — tells you how he is viewed throughout MLB.
The misconception about Senga is that he’s soft. That perception has been created by the manner in which team officials have handled him, building in extra days of rest between starts. If it were up to Senga, he would be pitching every fifth day, but the organization has remained resolute to “save him from himself,” as one club official put it, until it’s deemed appropriate to pitch him on normal rest.
Kodai Senga was named an NL All-Star replacement. APJustin Verlander and Max Scherzer began the season as the Mets’ co-aces, but both have pitched like middle-of-the-rotation starters, part of the reason the team is eight games below .500. Beyond this season, there will be a question of how Verlander and Scherzer fit, in the likely event both remain Mets at the trade deadline. In Scherzer’s case, there is also a player option for next season worth $43.3 million that he would be foolish not to exercise.
Slotting both behind a clear ace — should Senga show he’s capable of carrying that load — would be a much more palatable option for the club than heading to the winter with possibly a threesome or foursome of mid-rotation arms.
The Mets saw the best of Senga in his final start before the All-Star break. On that night at Arizona, he struck out 12 over eight innings and allowed only one run, giving the Mets the space to rally in the ninth inning and win. That followed two straight starts in which he failed to pitch six innings. On Saturday, the ghost was ghosting for a second straight outing.
Senga has been one of the Mets’ few bright spots in 2023. AP“It was encouraging to see him make adjustments as he went along in the first half,” Ottavino said. “What ultimately determines what kind of career you are going to have is your ability to make those adjustments. For him to have a lot of walks and still end up with strong ERA numbers through the first half is a really good indicator that he has got more in the tank there and his upside is high.”
Is Senga an ace? Even as the Mets sink further toward irrelevance this season, Senga will be an intriguing second-half storyline.
