The good news (Francisco Alvarez’s positively trending rehab assignment) couldn’t last long for the up-and-down Mets this season.
Another blow came Tuesday, as the team announced that rehabbing starter Kodai Senga was scratched from his start with Double-A Binghamton due to ulnar nerve irritation in his right arm. Senga was originally placed on the 15-day IL on April 28 (retroactive to April 27) with lumbar spine inflammation.
The 33-year-old righty had made three rehab appearances, one with Single-A St. Lucie and two with Triple-A Syracuse. The results, however, were not necessarily encouraging.
Senga needed 64 pitches to go 3 1/3 innings for St. Lucie on May 22, striking out just two and walking one. He allowed two runs on four hits.
On May 28, Senga made it just 3 2/3 innings on 80 pitches for Syracuse, striking out five but walking two and hitting another batter. That turned into three runs (two earned) on four hits, while his four-seam velocity ticked down.
And finally, on June 3 with Syracuse, Senga extended to five innings on 91 pitches (54 strikes) but again walked two with two hit batsmen. He struck out five, allowing three runs on six hits.
Senga has been a puzzling case since signing a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets out of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in December 2022. He was an All-Star in his debut season with a 2.98 ERA but lost virtually all of 2024 to injury and struggled mightily in 2025, accepting a demotion to the Minor Leagues near the season’s end.
A healthy and strong 2026 Spring Training seemed to promise a bounceback, but it’s been another winding road thus far.
The Mets, 29-36 and last in the NL East, also shut down the rehab assignment of Jorge Polanco this week due to ankle soreness.