BRONX, NY — New York Mets ace Kodai Senga said that he is “100% ready and excited” to make his season debut on Friday at Citi Field against the Atlanta Braves.
The 31-year-old right-hander, who threw a bullpen session on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium, has been sidelined for the first four months of the season after suffering a right shoulder capsule strain that was initially going to hold him out until the end of May. A triceps issue during his rehab, however, shut him down again, thus creating another hurdle for him to clear and pushing his return back to after the All-Star break.
He received an injection in his shoulder in February and another in his triceps in late May.
“Putting any type of injection or something into your body, it’s hard to figure out what your body can and can’t do again,” Senga said on his recovery. “Between these past few months, I was able to figure out what I can and can’t do so I think it was really a productive few months.”
Senga expects his pitch count to be “close to 100,” as he stretched out during four rehab starts in the minors. He did run into some trouble in his final rehab start on Saturday night with Triple-A Syracuse when he was tagged for five runs on sixth hits during a fourth inning in which he threw 30 pitches and did not record a single out.
“I was definitely working toward something just trying to figure out what I can and cannot do at that point,” Senga said. “I’m not really focused on getting the hitters out, but just really trying to understand myself so I thought it was really productive.”
Getting any form of Senga from his rookie season back into the fold is an immeasurable boost for a Mets team that suffered a blow on Tuesday when Christian Scott was placed on the 15-day IL with a sprained UCL. Still, the Mets expect to institute a six-man rotation with either Jose Butto or Tylor Megill slotting back into the rotation in Scott’s spot.
Senga is expected to reassume the role of staff ace following a brilliant MLB debut campaign in 2023 in which he went 12-8 with a 2.98 ERA and 202 strikeouts. He finished in the top 10 in both the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young voting.
This season, though, Senga will join a Mets squad that is in the thick of a postseason hunt — something that was not the case last year as a World Series hopeful fell off into trade-deadline sellers by July. The Mets entered Tuesday night’s matchup with the Yankees holding the third and final wild-card spot in the National League.
“Because the team is in such a great spot, I want to be a productive member of the team and continue to push the team toward a playoff spot,” Senga said. “Because the team is doing so well and the vibes are so high, I was there in the locker room with them but again, I’m not really in the circle with them so I was just really itching to get back out there for them.”
