New York Mets' Kodai Senga (34), of Japan, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) (Frank Franklin II, AP)
When Kodai Senga takes the Citi Field mound Friday night, eight days will have passed since the last time he pitched in a game. The Mets wanted to give him a few extra days in between starts, with the reason being that the team thought he would benefit from a schedule closer to that of the one he adhered to during his career in Japan in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.
“The plan going in this season was to try and give him as much of a semblance of what he’s come from,” manager Buck Showalter said earlier this week. “Many times he would pitch every seventh day or every sixth day.”
Pitchers in Japan take the ball every sixth day instead of every fifth day as they do in North America. They also throw more pitches in each outing, often throwing more than 100, which is not typical in North America.
But eight days is still more than Senga is used to and more than he really wanted.
“It’s a little hard to stay focused and stay concentrated in the rotation when you have so many days in between,” Senga told the Daily News Thursday in Detroit through a translator, before taking a flight back to New York ahead of the team in order to rest before his sixth start of the season. “But my job is to stay focused and that’s my top priority right now.”
A full week plus one day in between starts wasn’t easy for the 30-year-old right-hander. Pitchers don’t often like to get out of routines or disrupt their rhythm, but the Mets’ starting staff hasn’t had much of a chance to find a rhythm yet because of injuries, suspensions and extra days off.
Senga is no different. He would like to get on a five-day workweek in order to establish some consistency.
“It definitely will be easier to get back in rhythm,” he said.
The Mets have tried to use a six-man rotation at times and it’s something they would like to continue to try to implement during particularly busy stretches of the season. That would still only be six days of rest instead of seven or eight, but Monday, when the Mets talked about Senga’s workload, it sounded as though they see more days of rest as the key to helping Senga acclimate.
“It was something we kind of planned to simulate as much as we could when the season would allow it,” Showalter said. “Later in the year, as he grows we might be able to pitch him more on the six and maybe on the five.”
Senga is 3-1 with a 4.15 ERA this season. He has shown some frustration at times, especially with his command. While he knows his infamous “ghost fork” can play at the big league level and that it generates a lot of swings and misses, he has lamented a loss of control at times. Senga has walked 18 hitters this season and hasn’t had an outing with less than three.
This past week was used to work on improving his mechanics to be able to throw the splitter for strikes. The Mets would also like to see his command improve so he can go deeper into games.
“Fine-tuning the splitter so it will be ready for the game and be an effective pitch,” he said. “In terms of mechanics, it’s hard to explain with words because it’s kind of a feel thing, but just making sure everything is one time and in tune. In the past couple of outings, I’ve had a lot of walks and that was mostly because of mechanical issues. Making sure I fix that.”
Senga is only five weeks into a new season in a new place and a new league. He’s still getting a feel for the travel in the United States and with the Mets’ road-heavy schedule in April, he hasn’t been able to spend much time in New York City yet. He’s gone shopping in the city a few times, but other than that hasn’t been able to do much.
He took this week away to try and improve.
“It’s been quality time for me,” he said. “I haven’t performed as well in the last couple outings and reflecting back on those outings and thinking about what I need to do physically, mechanically — everything. All aspects. It’s just been a time to reflect and make it a beneficial week by improving every aspect of my pitching.”
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Originally published at Tribune News Service