QUEENS — New York Mets manager Buck Showalter isn’t going to stick to a strict numbers game with Kodai Senga as the Japanese star pitcher continues to adjust to life in Major League Baseball.
After divulging that his cap would be roughly 90 pitches during the season-opening series last week against the Miami Marlins — and pulling him after 89 pitches and 5.1 solid innings — Showalter wasn’t so quick to prescribe an exact number to Senga’s second start with the Mets, which also happens to come against the Marlins at Citi Field on Saturday afternoon.
“I wouldn’t become totally committed to a magic number and that I have to go out there at exactly 90 [pitches],” Showalter said before first pitch on Saturday. “I’ll let the game kind of dictate it. I’ve seen guys that at 80 pitches look like they’ve thrown 130 and guys at 90 look like they’ve done 70. So it’s kind of a feel thing. Remember those days?”
That initial pitch count that was prescribed to him is expected to loosely hover above the 30-year-old right-hander for the foreseeable future. Not only is he trying to get used to a bigger ball in the majors as compared to Japan and a steeper mound, and MLB’s new pitch clock, but he’s also attempting to extend his workload to that of a legitimate No. 3 pitcher in a starting rotation.
In his 11 years pitching in Japan, Senga threw over 150 innings in a season just twice.
Across his debut 5.1 innings, Senga needed some time to settle in but shook off a turbulent first inning to allow just one earned run on three hits with eight swinging strikeouts — each of them coming on the now-famous ghost forkball.
While Showalter said will keep an eye on his rest schedule and the expected strength of the opposition to help dictate how much he can throw, the fact that Senga will get to face the same team again presents a new challenge for him.
“Everybody in the ballpark in Miami knew what he was throwing,” Showalter said. “I think he has a lot deeper repertoire than just [the ghost forkball], but this is the second time somebody’s going to see him today. Just the release point, a little more familiarity with him.
“But I found if you’re good, you’re good. And if you’re not, you’re not. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen somebody.”
