Mets starting pitchers Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga will make their Grapefruit League debuts in the coming days, manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed on Thursday.
Manaea, the veteran southpaw who helped carry the Mets to the NLCS two years ago, will get the ball for Friday’s exhibition matchup against the Miami Marlins.
An oblique injury and loose bodies in his elbow forced him to miss the first half of the season, and he was ineffective upon his return. In 15 appearances (12 starts), he was 2-4 with a 5.64 ERA, which included a bullpen demotion.
He has spent this spring tweaking his mechanics, specifically raising his arm slot in hopes of getting back to the second-half hero he was in 2024.
Senga will toe the rubber on Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals as he tries to prove he can get back to the phenom level he was at when he made the jump from Japan to Queens in 2023, when he posted a 2.98 ERA with 202 strikeouts.
Injuries have derailed each of the last two seasons, including last year, when his mechanics were so out of whack following a calf strain in June that he accepted a demotion to Triple-A to end the 2025 campaign.
He has come back strong in spring training, though, which lends the hope that he can return to being a top-three starter in the rotation behind Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Mendoza said. “Probably the best I’ve seen him since I’ve been here, around this time. With the way he’s throwing the baseball, [velocity] is mid-90s right now, and he continues to feel well. He’s in a good spot.”
