PORT ST. LUCIE — Kodai Senga is still taking the approach he can pitch like an ace for the Mets — even as the organization has pushed him toward a back burner.
“These past two years have been frustrating and tough mentally,” the right-hander said through his interpreter Wednesday on the reporting date for pitchers and catchers to spring training. “At some point maybe I started to lose confidence. But in this world, you either do it or you don’t, and I’m here to do it.”
Senga entered a free fall in the second half of last season — after returning from a stint on the injured list with a hamstring strain — that culminated with him accepting an assignment to Triple-A Syracuse in September.
He finished with a 3.02 ERA overall, a testament to a strong first half in which he often resembled an ace.
It followed a year in which Senga pitched only once in the 2024 regular season due to various ailments.
Does Senga have to regain the organization’s trust?
“Before showing the organization anything I think I need to prove it to myself that I can go out there and pitch a full season,” Senga said. “And then once I prove it to myself I think then comes the third party, how everybody else sees me, so first I need to be out there for myself.”
The Mets saw the best of Senga in 2023, when he pitched to a 2.98 ERA over 29 starts with 202 strikeouts over 166 ¹/₃ innings.
But he’s started only 23 games since that rookie season.
Freddy Peralta and Nolan McLean have moved ahead of Senga atop the Mets rotation, leaving Senga in a mix that includes Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson.
As an indicator of how much his stock has fallen, the Mets this offseason entertained trade proposals for Senga, who still has $30 million remaining on his contract over the next two years.
Senga communicated to club officials that he wanted to remain with the Mets.
“I control only what I can control,” Senga said. “At that point I hadn’t gotten traded yet so I just wanted to do whatever I could in the moment and be back out there for the Mets and play hard.”
