PORT ST. LUCIE — At long last, the ghost has reappeared.
Kodai Senga was back on the mound for a game Monday, having talked his way into Grapefruit League action for a Mets team that would have preferred more bullpen and live batting practice sessions.
After a bizarre 2024 season, Senga’s 2025 began with a determination to return to action, an evolved arsenal and two strong, scoreless innings in a 1-1 tie with the Marlins at Clover Park.
“Finally he was able to go out there in real competition,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, who watched Senga look sharp with a different repertoire.
That Senga was in an exhibition game was noteworthy, wanting to test himself against real opponents while Mets minds have wanted his progression to be as incremental as possible.
Senga was not allowed a third inning, instead throwing 12 pitches on a bullpen mound after his two frames (and 31 pitches) were finished.
“Just very pleased that I’m able to get out of it healthy,” Senga said through interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “There were a lot of things that I wanted to try out that I was able to. Just great to be out there.”
Senga will always be known for his ghost forkball, but he showed off a new sinker that gives him a new way to attack righty hitters especially.
He threw the pitch three times (two balls and a foul ball) and now has a way to run the ball in on righty hitters’ hands.
“It’s a dangerous pitch,” Mendoza said of the two-seamer. “He can manipulate the baseball in a lot of different ways.”
Senga also worked on a tweaked slider that induced a violent whiff on a strikeout from Otto Lopez.
Of his 31 pitches, 20 were strikes.
He touched 96 mph with his four-seam fastball.
He used just one ghost fork — against which Derek Hill singled — but he may have been saving his most devastating offering, a tactic he employed in 2023 spring training.
He allowed just two base runners and struck out two while inducing five swings and misses.
He had to scramble to cover first base on what became an infield single and did so without incident.
Everything was positive from a pitcher who hopes his repertoire becomes the subject of conversation rather than his health.
Senga looked strong, and the Mets hope he can begin to look like the potential ace they might need him to be.
Already down Frankie Montas (lat strain) and Sean Manaea (oblique), the Mets will have to rely heavily upon Senga, who looms as a particularly volatile variable this season.
In 2023, he emerged as an ace in his first season in the majors and improved as the season got longer, eventually receiving Cy Young votes and finishing with a 2.98 ERA.
Last season he went down in spring with a posterior capsule strain in his shoulder, which was the first setback in a season of them.
After the original injury, his rehab progression was paused because he was not confident in his mechanics.
Senga did not appear in a minor league game until July 3 and did not see a major league mound until July 26.
The 5 ¹/₃ innings he threw against the Braves that day would be his only work of the regular season.
An electric outing ended with Senga chasing a pop-up and straining his calf coming off the mound.
Senga would not be seen on the mound again until the postseason, when he tried to build up on the fly and was lit up twice in three appearances in which he was charged with seven runs in five innings.
After a normal offseason, Senga entered camp a healthy pitcher and arguably the club’s most important.
The Mets have insisted upon incremental steps, to the point they would have preferred Senga to continue building up away from game action.
Yet Senga wanted to see action already, which brought him back to the Grapefruit League on Monday.
“We’re building him up to be a normal player, a normal starter for us when we break camp,” Mendoza said of Senga, who could be ready for 70-80 pitches in his first regular-season start. “We feel like we got time.”
