When the Mets signed Kodai Senga to a five-year, $75 million contract, it signaled the team’s first swing move in the international market in years and generated a lot of excitement, even resulting in an A+ grade from Amazin’ Avenue’s Lukas Vlahos. It’s hard to argue with the hype: His ghost fork was already regarded as one of the most dangerous and unique pitches in the world, and a $15 million AAV for a player with ace potential is something you can’t find in modern baseball. It’s hard to find anything
to complain about with the move.
Senga made waves with a stellar rookie campaign, coming in second in NL Rookie of the Year voting while striking out 200+ batters—he remains the most recent Met to punch out 200 hitters. His ghost fork was as advertised and, in a year where there was little to cheer for, fans reveled in sporting ghost fork merch as the Citi Field scoreboard flashed the “Senga” graphic with the Sega Genesis sound effect accompanying it. Senga Fever quickly overtook the Flushing Faithful, and it seemed the Mets had found the ace to take up the mantle from Jacob deGrom, who departed the previous offseason.
Unfortunately, his journey since then has been nothing sort of rocky following his eye-opening first season. He pitched just 5 1/3 innings in the 2024 regular season due to a right shoulder posterior capsule strain suffered in February, and a high-grade calf strain suffered during his one (1) regular season start, which came in late July. He returned for the postseason and made three appearances (two starts), allowing seven earned runs on six hits with four strikeouts over five innings. He was mostly an afterthought in the team’s World Series push, which concluded with a loss to the Dodgers in six games in the NLCS.
Last year was a tale of two halves for Senga, who looked like an early Cy Young hopeful until he exited his June 12 start with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain, and then was largely unplayable upon his return in July. In his first 13 starts, he posted a sparkling 1.47 ERA and a 3.24 FIP, with a 23.9% K% and a 10.6% BB% in 73 2/3 innings. His season was derailed by an errant throw to first from Pete Alonso, which forced Senga to stretch awkwardly and resulted in the aforementioned hamstring injury. The rest, as they say, is history. He returned on July 11 and made just nine starts the rest of the way, posting a 5.90 ERA and a 4.69 FIP, with a 20.6% K% and a 12.6% BB% in 39 2/3 innings. He lost the confidence of his skipper and the club, so much so that he was asked to accept a Triple-A assignment, which he agreed to. His last regular season start was on August 31, and he spent all of September unsuccessfully trying to find himself in Syracuse. He allowed five earned runs on nine hits over 9 2/3 innings in two starts in the minors to close out the year.
From that point forward, it was fair to wonder whether Senga would ever return to his 2023 form over the final two years of his contract. Senga remained with the club beyond his 2025 opt out, which would have kicked in had he recorded 400 innings over his first three seasons. Despite his 166 1/3 innings in 2023, his lost 2024 season made that opt out a non-factor, and he finished 2025 with 285 major league innings under his belt. Heading into the offseason, the club made it known that Senga as someone they would listen to in trades, with Jeff Passan even adding in an offseason piece that, “multiple executives expect him to be traded this winter as the Mets look to overhaul their rotation.”.
However, the offseason came and went without anything materializing. It’s unclear whether the club seriously discussed the right-hander with any teams, though Senga made it clear to the Mets that he wanted to stay. In any event, it’s hard to imagine there weren’t teams out there willing to take a chance on $30 million over two years on a pitcher with a lethal ghost fork and an ace-like ceiling. More likely, the Mets either decided his value was greater on their team than the return they would have received, or the offers were so non-competitive that trade discussions never progressed.
That brings us to today, with Senga still on the roster and in came with the Mets to start spring training. His presence has been a constant source of questions for manager Carlos Mendoza, who has affirmed that the team has six starters. This seems to suggest that Senga is still a part of the team’s plans, and they will move forward with the six starters they have, including Senga. That makes Senga something of a wild card for the team. Unlikely to slot at the front of a rotation that features newly-acquired ace Freddy Peralta and young up-and-comer Nolan McLean, Senga offers enticing potential at a still relatively-affordable price point.
When asked about his goals for 2026, Senga candidly (and perhaps comedically) answered “to not get injured”. It’s a simple goal, but an important one. Given his first half last season, there is still proof that if he’s healthy and on a regular routine and schedule, he can be one of the best pitchers in the sport, a fantastic tool in Mendoza’s belt to use once a week and help push the Mets towards a playoff spot. If he succumbs to injuries yet again, however, he can quickly become another forgotten pitcher whose impact will long be forgotten, with someone like Jonah Tong ready to take his spot.
Mendoza has been extremely positive on Senga, saying that what he’s seen from the right-hander is “probably the best I’ve seen him since I’ve been here around this time”. This follows his positive review of his first bullpen session back in February, where Senga was seen throwing around 96-97 miles-per-hour, which resulted in Mendoza calling it a good sign before adding, “it was good to see him go out there with intensity and throwing the ball the way he did.”
Part of this is probably the third-year manager playing the role of hype man and lending support to his player in his time of need, but it should at least lend some excitement that Senga could finally put together a season similar to his rookie campaign. If he can be anything remotely close to that, it could (and should) give the Mets one of the most lethal rotations in the sport. Here’s to hoping that Senga, who figures to slot somewhere in the middle to back-end of the team’s six-man rotation, can realize his 2026 goal of remaining on the field.
