Kodai Senga believes Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be 'great fit' with Mets, would like to recruit him to New York
The Mets made a big splash in the international free agent pool last offseason when they signed Kodai Senga to a five-year, $75 million deal. And with questions surrounding how the team’s rotation will look in 2024, could the Mets turn back to Japan for another answer?
If they do, Senga is happy to help.
Mike Puma of the New York Post recently spoke with Senga about Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won Pacific League MVP with the Orix Buffaloes in each of the last two seasons while also winning the Eiji Sawamura Award, the equivalent of the Cy Young, both years.
Just 25 years old, Yamamoto has won the Pacific League ERA crown three times, and will undoubtedly be one of the biggest names on the free agent market if/when he’s posted by his club.
“I have known him since he was 20 years old,” Senga told the Post through an interpreter on Thursday. “He’s been at the top level since he was very young, and I know he has a ton of talent. He is an amazing player.
“He’s an amazing pitcher all around. He has velocity, he can throw hard. He has good control and command. He can also throw off-speed that has a ton of break.”
SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported in mid-July that Mets GM Billy Eppler had already traveled to Japan earlier this year to watch Yamamoto pitch, noting that Eppler’s “deep connections and credibility in that country could help give the Mets an advantage in Yamamoto’s free agency."
An evaluator described Yamamoto to Martino as “Chris Bassitt with more velo,” noting his wide repertoire of pitches.
“He still has the rest of the season to get through, healthy hopefully, and the posting system,” Senga told the Post. “I think once that goes through, the team might ask me and [Yamamoto] might ask me as well, and I would like to speak to both of them.”
Senga added: “It’s very apparent that Billy pays attention to the culture of Japan and knows how to interact with Japanese people well. I felt that first-handedly and his presentation skills are amazing, so I think that could work in the Mets’ favor.”
While the Mets rotation has been largely disappointing this season, leading to Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander being dealt ahead of the trade deadline, Senga has been a bright spot. In 22 starts, the right-hander has pitched to a 3.30 ERA with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings, showcasing his patented “ghost fork” pitch as one of the most unhittable pitches in all of baseball.
As Senga told the Post, the Mets are the only MLB team he has first-hand experience with, but he believes Yamamoto would fit in well with the club.
“Everybody on the team is such a great teammate,” Senga said. “I personally am not a very fluent English speaker, but everyone welcomed me with open arms and tries to communicate and I think that would be the same with any other Japanese player if he came to the Mets. I think he would be a great fit and the whole team would welcome him.”
