What New York Mets are Getting in Kodai Senga
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The Mets dished out a five-year, $75 million deal to Japanese phenom, Kodai Senga, in December, slating him in as the No. 3 starter in their rotation for this upcoming season.
So what are they getting in the soon-to-be 30-year-old hard-throwing righty?
“He’s a guy, who just continues to get better," said one National League talent evaluator, who scouted Senga in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
“He has a history of winning over there. It’s a good makeup guy. He was not a famous name, even in high school. He had to fight his way through the NPB minor leagues and performed really well there (at NPB level). He has a track record of getting guys out and winning. I think he’ll be pretty good.”
Along with Senga's impressive background and makeup comes an elite repertoire, which is what the Mets liked so much about him.
“He has the typical Japanese delivery, step back and pause, lift and pause, gather and go," said the talent evaluator. "He has got really good direction towards home plate.”
“The fastball is up to 100 mph, but he is probably going to pitch more 94-95 mph in the big-leagues. He can move the ball on both sides of the plate and has pretty good command.”
“The breaking pitches are good but are certainly not elite like the fork ball. He can spin the ball to make it move down, or side to side.”
Speaking of the "ghost" fork ball, this is Senga's No. 1 put away pitch in his arsenal that gives opposing hitters fits.
“The fork ball is special," said the talent evaluator. "Now you see it, now you don’t. When they say ghost it’s because the hitters see fastball. The hitter swings at what he sees, not at what’s thrown.
"With the ghost forkball, hitters see the same hand speed and it comes out (like a fastball), but then it has the late dive action. Even if you’re on it with the same velocity you have to really manipulate the barrel to get to it. So many times, once a hitter commits to swinging and where they perceive the ball to be, his pitch isn’t there. That’s the ghost."
But the difficult part isn't even the speed, but the action of the pitch, says the talent evaluator.
"The challenge is not only the speed, but the action of the pitch. Hitters have to be on time to hit 95mph+, then they get the drop of the ghost fork."
“In the world of put away pitches it’s really, really good. When you’re in a jam and you really need a punch out, Senga really has the weapons to put you away.”
In 11 seasons in the NPB, Senga went 87-44 with a 2.59 ERA, 1.115 WHIP and 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings across 1,089 innings pitched.
The Mets are hoping Senga's success from Japan translates over to the big-leagues, as he will be tasked with replacing Chris Bassitt in the rotation, who had a strong year in Queens in 2022.
Senga's repertoire, which features a 95 mph+ fastball and a ghost fork ball, should give him a pretty strong shot at finding his footing in the major leagues for the Mets next season and beyond.
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