NY Mets news: Kodai Senga displaying worrisome signs early in Spring Training

As Kodai Senga enters his first season with the NY Mets, he faces a tough transition period which could make or break the Japanese ace.

New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga’s first Spring Training is the talk of the team, and all eyes are plastered on how Senga will adjust to playing in the major league.

Senga, who previously played with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in Japan, was signed last month to a five-year, $75 million contract and gives the Mets a bit of a wild card in their deep rotation.

The Mets’ current pitching rotation includes Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Jose Quintana, and Carlos Carrasco, and Senga is primed to take that last starting spot or, if all goes well, even slot in behind Verlander and Scherzer.

Based on early sessions in Spring Training, the 30-year-old Japanese pitcher is still feeling his way around the mound.

Senga said his initial workouts with the team went “so-so,” noting slight differences between the MLB and the Japanese league such as a sharper mound slope and larger baseball size. In any case, Senga was seen throwing pitches left and right in a Friday bullpen session that could be characterized as shaky at best, marking a tenuous start for the Mets’ new sensation in 2023.

NY Mets: Kodai Senga is slowly transitioning to life in the MLB

Senga was used to pitching once a week and throwing as many as 140 pitches in each outing back in Japan, but he may not get as much work in a five-man rotation.

The right-hander topped out at 96 mph in his 52-pitch bullpen session, the highlight of which his “ghost” pitch, a forkball with a unique shape that seems to disappear against hitters.

Senga went 11-6 with a 1.89 ERA in 148 innings for Softbank last season, owning a career 2.59 ERA and five rings in Japan all before the age of 30. His newly inked $75 million deal gives him only slightly more money than Taijuan Walker perhaps due to what sources claim was Senga’s iffy medical.

Whatever Senga’s health issues may be, the Mets were clearly more comfortable with Senga than Carlos Correa and that whole debacle.

As the youngest of the Mets’ five starting pitchers, Senga naturally has to adjust to the learning curve, which includes navigating through the language barrier as well. The Japanese import should nonetheless waste no time situating himself on the mound and poses as a flashy threat in New York’s experienced pitching rotation.