(AFP)
Kodai Senga
Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga joined the New York Mets on Monday, taking his place alongside idols Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in the Major League Baseball club’s starting roster.
“It almost feels surreal,” Senga said through a translator at a news conference, showing off his new uniform after completing a five-year deal reportedly worth $75 million.
“I’m very happy and excited to be in the Big Apple,” Senga said in English. “Let’s go Mets.”
The 29-year-old right-hander won five Japan Series titles with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and helped Japan win gold at last year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Kodai,” Mets general manager Billy Eppler said. “We’ve scouted him from afar for a number of years and we knew when he hit free agency that we would want to make this day a reality.”
Mets manager Buck Showalter, this year’s National League Manager of the Year, and Eppler were among a host of Mets officials who met with Senga in November and convinced him New York was where he needed to play.
“The Mets really showed they wanted (me),” Senga said through a translator. “And also the opportunity to pitch with such great veteran pitchers,” calling World Series champion hurlers Scherzer and Verlander “legendary pitchers” known well in Japan.
He said he was excited to pitch for Mets fans, who last celebrated a World Series crown in 1986.
“I hope to live up to the highest of their expectations,” Senga said.
Senga had a 1.89 earned-run average with 159 strikeouts and 50 walks over 148 innings this year in Japan.
“As far as Kodai is concerned, he encompasses impact-level pitches and an impact-level arsenal,” Eppler said.
Senga has taken advice from countryman Yu Darvish, a former Japan League star who has pitched for MLB clubs since 2012 and will face Senga’s Mets in National League games as a member of the San Diego Padres.
“He has given a lot of good advice,” Senga said.
The Mets ended a five-season playoff drought in 2022, losing in the first round to San Diego. They haven’t won a playoff series since reaching the 2015 World Series, where they lost to Kansas City.
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