After another bad outing by Kodai Senga on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza was hesitant to commit that the right-hander would make his next start for the Mets.
Senga went just 3.1 innings against the Chicago Cubs, allowing six earned runs on six hits, including two home runs, and three walks in an eventual 12-4 loss. In his last start against the Athletics at Citi Field, Senga lasted 2.1 innings, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and two home runs in a game New York lost 11-6.
"He didn’t execute and they made him pay," Mendoza said.
Prior to his struggles which come on the heels of a rough end to his 2025 season, Senga got off to a good start, allowing four earned runs and striking out 16 over 11.2 innings in his first two outings. He also had an impressive spring training and looked like he was back to being the ace-caliber pitcher he was for the Mets in 2023 and the first half of 2025.
"Started off pretty good the first couple of outings," Mendoza said. "Coming out of spring training we saw a different guy, but then the last two I think the intent hasn’t been there. We saw the velo at the beginning and now it’s more like feeling for the strike zone, more like pitchability -- trying to mix cutters, sweepers as opposed to going right after people which is what we saw in spring training and the first two outings."
Now New York will need to make a decision on Senga whose next turn in the rotation would likely be April 23 against the Minnesota Twins. However, the Mets have an off day before then that they can use to their benefit.
Whatever New York decides to do, though, it's in a tough spot either way with its right-hander who is known to be fastidious with his craft and can harp on his mechanics, often to a fault, while sometimes also being overcritical of himself.
"It’s hard to figure it out, especially with him," Mendoza said. "But the number one thing is his health and he's healthy... I think he's gotta go back to trusting his pitches in the strike zone. He's gotta be able to compete in the strike zone, that's what it comes down to. If you get behind hitters at this level, they're gonna make you pay."
When asked about what's been the biggest difference for him during his last two starts, Senga agreed with his skipper.
"Not getting ahead, not getting first pitch strikes, getting into hitter's counts," he said.
Yet, despite the results, Senga believes he's "not all that far off" from where he needs to be.
"A lot of this stuff is the pitches just not being as strong near the hitter or near the catcher at home plate and I'm not being able to deceive them as much," he said. "... I just need to go out there and perform."
D.J. Short
