Struggling Senga accepts Mets' assignment to Triple-A for a reset

CINCINNATI -- At his best, Kodai Senga has been an All-Star starter capable of harnessing one of the most devastating pitches -- his "ghost fork" -- in the game today. Recently, however, Senga has been one of the most hittable pitchers in Major League Baseball.

Given that context, the Mets on Friday made the dramatic move of optioning Senga -- arguably their de facto ace entering Spring Training -- to Triple-A Syracuse. He will stay there at least until he’s eligible to return on Sept. 20, at which point club officials believe they’ll have a better feel for whether Senga will be capable of helping them in October.

“I think he wants to do what’s right for the team, and he believes that he can be a part of a playoff run here,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said. “He very much wants to be a part of a playoff run here. And I think we all got to the point that the best possible chance for him to do that is to take a step back, be able to work on what he needs to work on in a slightly more controlled environment and go from there.”

To option Senga, the Mets needed to receive the right-hander’s approval -- a stipulation included within the language of the five-year, $75 million contract he signed in December 2022 upon coming over from Japan. According to both Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza, Senga was amenable to that from the outset.

“As we talked to Kodai throughout this,” Stearns said, “I think it became clear that from both of our perspectives, this was the right thing to do for the team and the player.”

A rookie All-Star in 2023 who missed nearly all of last season due to injuries, the 32-year-old Senga returned to the rotation in April and was sensational during the first half, going 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA over his first 13 starts. But he strained his right hamstring in the last of those outings, ultimately missing a month, and he has not been the same pitcher since. Over his past eight starts, Senga has gone winless with a 6.56 ERA.

Mets officials believe Senga’s leg injury may have caused him to overcompensate in other parts of his delivery. Meticulous with his mechanics, Senga has often admitted to feeling uncomfortable when some part of his kinetic chain feels out of whack. Last summer, he cited his mechanics multiple times as the reason for his slow return from a left calf injury.

This time, rather than have Senga try to find a solution in the midst of a pennant race, the Mets want him to do so in a lower-stakes environment at Syracuse. The plan is for Senga to throw a couple of bullpen sessions over the next week, then make two starts. If all goes well, he could return in time to make one or two starts down the stretch.

By that point, the Mets hope they’ll have enough information to determine if Senga can be a viable October starter for them.

“We’re going to watch him closely,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got to get him right, because he’s important for the team.”

In the interim, the Mets will proceed for at least the next week using a six-man rotation, with rookies assuming three of those six spots. Jonah Tong will make his second career start Saturday in Cincinnati, followed by No. 5 prospect Brandon Sproat in his big league debut on Sunday. Nolan McLean will make his fifth start sometime next week in Philadelphia.

Veterans Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson will all remain in the rotation as well.

“We’re asking a lot of some young players, some players who haven’t done it at the big league level yet, but also players who are really talented and we believe are ready for this challenge,” Stearns said. “We’re excited for them. I think we’ve already seen Nolan and Jonah meet that challenge, and we expect Brandon to do that as well.”