QUEENS, NY — Kodai Senga’s track record of being the Mets’ ace in 2023 and throughout the first half of this season does not mean much to manager Carlos Mendoza.
The 32-year-old right-hander will have to earn his place on the Mets’ postseason roster, should they make it, if he is able to fix his mechanics down in Triple-A. Senga is scheduled to pitch a second minor-league game with Syracuse on Thursday night.
“I wouldn’t say definitely,” Mendoza said on Thursday prior to his squad’s series finale against the San Diego Padres. “I think we’ll have that conversation, and we’ll take the best 13 guys that we feel are going to give us the best chance to win baseball games in October. But in the meantime, we got 10 more [games], and we will continue to treat it that way.”
Senga’s first outing since his demotion — sparked by an eight-outing stretch in which he posted a 6.56 ERA — on Friday featured six innings in which he allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and zero walks.
“I like the fact that there were no walks last time when he pitched in Triple-A, getting ahead, using all of his pitches,” Mendoza said. “He got swings and misses with the split. But I think it starts with him throwing strike one and then staying on the attack.”
When Senga is healthy and clicking, which has been rare over the last two years, he is undeniably one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball. He proved it through large portions of the first half of the season, going 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 73.1 innings pitched before suffering a hamstring strain on June 12 that sidelined him for a month. In nine starts upon his return, he went 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA.
There obviously is not much time for Senga to prove that he has figured it out, but the promise of getting an ace back in the fold for such an inconsistent starting rotation provides obvious temptation for Mets brass.
Even so, Mendoza said earlier this week that using Senga and Clay Holmes out of the bullpen is not “off the table,” as the need for shutdown right-handed relief options is only growing with Reed Garrett’s season in jeopardy as he once again deals with an elbow injury.
