New York Mets ace Kodai Senga is finally going to get his wish of getting into a Grapefruit League game during spring training action on Monday night against the Miami Marlins.
The 32-year-old right-hander, who was limited to just 5.1 regular-season innings last year after suffering shoulder and calf injuries, will get one inning of work against the Marlins and then will go to a back field at Mets facilities to throw two more frames in a live batting practice session.
“It’s good to see him healthy, throwing the ball the way he’s capable of,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “I’m excited to watch him [Monday].”
It will allow the Mets to continue stretching Senga’s workload slowly, which they will closely monitor throughout the season. Even before the injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea, a six-man rotation was in place to lighten Senga’s work rate.
During his 11-year professional career in Japan, Senga only pitched more than 150 innings twice in a single season. He threw 166.1 innings in his rookie season with the Mets, which featured a 2.98 ERA, 202 strikeouts, a second-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and a top-10 finish in the Cy Young vote.
An entire 2024 season spent rehabbing and recovering means stretching him out is an entirely different undertaking this spring. Doing so while trying to manage the extra juice that comes with getting back into a competitive setting must be reintroduced slowly, which is why Senga will only get one inning against the Marlins.
“This is a way that gets Senga going,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said on Saturday (h/t New York Post). “We don’t want him to go out and feel like he’s got to throw whatever amount of pitches to get three innings or whatever. We want him to throw one inning and see what that feels like, and then we go in the backfield.”
