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Amazin’s ace Kodai Senga takes a timeout for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby, with the help of expert translator Hiro Fujiwara.
Q: What is it like on the mound watching the ghost forkball do what it does?
A: The big thing is, I’m hoping that the pitch does what it does and moves like it does. And if it doesn’t, I look at the hitter and know where I can and can’t throw it, and try to minimize the mistakes.
Q: Your approach sounds as if it is scientific on the mound.
A: I think you’re right. I like to look at the data, I like to think about, “OK, if I do this and then this and then this,” then I should be able to get the hitter out.
Q: What was last year like emotionally for you?
A: It was a tough year, a lot of frustration, an injury after an injury after another injury, I couldn’t catch a break even though I was being very careful with everything from baseball activities to day-to-day life, I still wasn’t able to get back on the field. But during that time, I was able to learn a lot about my body and about how a lot of things work so that I can prevent things moving forward and that I can stay on the field and put up good numbers 2025 forward.
Q: Why do you think the best is yet to come?
A: I think what’s important is I’m constantly striving to be the best. I don’t know if I’ll ever get there, I don’t know if I’ll ever be content with where I am, but I’m always striving to be the best. It’s not like I’m putting up super-dominant numbers, it’s not like I’m striking everybody out and not letting anybody on base. There’s a lot of work to be done, so I’m constantly striving to get there.
Q: Describe your mound mentality.
A: I’m just very focused on what I can control and what I can do out on the mound. That starts with what type of hitter are they, what type of pitches can they hit, at what locations and what counts? I just need to make sure that I have that in my brain ready to go. The results are the results, I can’t control that, but I just want to do what I can do.
Q; What drives you?
A: I want to make my career successful and as long as possible in the big leagues. Obviously I have ups and downs, some good days and bad days, and bad days maybe I’m not as motivated, but then I think back to when I was in Japan, and wasn’t able to come over here and there was that frustration. I think back to that. I really, really wanted to come here, and now that I am here, I’m very fortunate, and I was working hard at the time to get myself here, and now I want to work hard to extend my career as long as possible.
Q: How frustrating was it having to wait so long to become a free agent and come to the major leagues?
A: I was a different person because of the fact that I wasn’t able to come over, but I tried to use that in my favor and did what I could at the time so that I can have success right from the get-go my first season, my first game In the big leagues.
Q: Different person how?
A: Like, when you take a toy away from a kid and the kid is just very down, because I wasn’t given the opportunity to come here.
Q: How did the Mets recruit you?
A: [Former Mets GM] Billy Eppler had a fantastic presentation. I feel like he has a really good understanding of Japanese players and Japanese culture, so that definitely helped a lot. Coming in to the Mets, I didn’t feel like I would have any worries with Billy being the GM at the time. And also, at the very end of the meeting, Billy blurted out, “Hey, we might be signing another Hall of Famer [Justin Verlander], just by the way,” and at that point, my heart was really pulled towards the Mets. I don’t know that very many players get to spend time with two Hall of Famers like Justin and Max [Scherzer], and being my first year in the big leagues, that was a crazy experience.
Q: Thoughts on your current general manager David Stearns?
A: He believed in me all of last year despite my injuries. Throughout the entire year, he repeatedly told me that he believed in me as a weapon for the team. And I wanted to respond to that and pitch well in the postseason, and come this year, he constructed a team that I think has all the potential in the world. He’s done a great job making this team a World Series-caliber team.
Q: Some teammates: Francisco Lindor.
A: He takes a lot of leadership, and ever since my first year here with the Mets, he’s taught me a lot, because I didn’t know anything about America, I didn’t know anything about the baseball culture over here, but Lindor was there to support me and teach me with whatever. And whenever he comes to the mound during the games, that’s a really good time, too, he’s always there for me.
Q: What makes Juan Soto, Juan Soto?
A: I think Soto’s Soto because of his swing, and how consistent he is. He has tremendous bat speed, and he is able to replicate that every single time. He stays balanced, and he’s super confident. He knows that he can hit — he has good days, he has bad days — but that’s all normal to him. He knows that he’s going to get results at the end of the day, so even if he doesn’t get a hit, he knows that’s going to come around. Even if he has two homers, that’s normal to him. I feel the confidence radiating from him, and the level of confidence and how much he expects from himself is very high.
Q: Are you super confident?
A: I don’t know if it’s confidence or not, but within the past couple of years from ’23, I know that it if I do my homework, if I prepare for the game how I need to, then I’m going to get results, and when I’m not prepared, that’s when I get hit. If I am lacking any type of preparation, whether it’s data stuff or body movement-type stuff and the results don’t come, I’m very frustrated in myself. And when I am able to prepare the way I should, I’ve had a good amount of success. I don’t know if that’s confidence or what it is, but that’s kind of how I feel.
Q: What is it like with Brandon Nimmo playing left field?
A: (Smile) I can’t even remember how many times he’s caught a fly ball up against the wall for me.
Q: Carlos Mendoza?
A: I think he’s a manager that has the capabilities of leading a winning team. He’s very passionate, he’s always thinking about the players and very considerate of us.
Q: What do you like best about this Mets team?
A: It’s hard to pick one, but if I were to nail it down to just one, it’s the atmosphere that the team creates. The staff are all great, they all support me, everybody around me. Even though I can’t speak English, they include me in a lot of things, so I just feel the positivity around the clubhouse.
Q: Do you think this team can win a World Series?
A: I absolutely do think we can win a World Series, and if we make it to the World Series, I don’t think I would be surprised in the slightest. I think we have everything that it takes to get there and win it.
Q: Is pitching in New York in this market what you expected?
A: In Japan, they publicize New York as a tough environment with a lot of reporters, and a lot of harsh fans, if you don’t perform, they’re going to boo you. That’s kind of the image I kind of had coming into it, maybe a lot of Japanese will have over there, but I haven’t had a negative experience at all.
Q: Describe making the 2023 All-Star team.
A: At first I didn’t really know how big of a deal it was. A lot of people around me were like, “Hey, that’s a really big deal, that’s really cool, congratulations.” Later on I realized how privileged I was to be selected on the team. It was a great experience.
Q: Describe winning an Olympic gold medal with Japan in 2021.
A: It was an interesting selection process because it’s not like I was pitching the entire first half of the year and I was putting up good numbers, I was actually hurt with an ankle injury, I had torn some ligaments and I wasn’t able to pitch at all. … I pitched maybe one game, gave up 10 runs or so, but somehow I was still selected. There was a lot of pressure because they wanted me on the team to put the country name across my chest even though I hadn’t performed at all that year. So it was tough, but after winning, more so than the happiness I got for myself for winning gold, it was more people around me that congratulated me and the people that helped me with the rehab process with my ankle who were very happy that I was able to get back and win gold for the country.
Q: Former Mets manager Buck Showalter said when you came over: “He’s been told a lot over there he couldn’t do something, and he proved them wrong at every turn.”
A: I come from a high school where there’s never been a professional baseball player before. The school has more female students than male students, and we could barely field nine people on the field to even play a game. So I guess from a third-person point of view, coming from that school going into the lowest level of the development leagues and making my way up here, I do hear voices like, “It must have been tough,” or there was doubt in the process. But me myself, I didn’t feel that way, and I never doubted myself.
Q: You once thought about boxing or tennis?
A: Obviously I liked sports, I wanted to do something and I was torn between those three sports, and the reason why I kind of swayed away from baseball at one point is because I didn’t know if there was going to be enough people to play a game. Some of the comic books I was reading were about tennis and boxing, so I just was kind of influenced by that and almost went there, but I realized that there were enough peers that were going to play baseball.
Q: How old were you when you played third base?
A: Elementary school and middle school.
Q: Could you play third base now if Carlos Mendoza wants you to?
A: (Laugh) I’ll swing the bat and let him know that I’m ready.
Q: Best baseball moment in Japan?
A: No-hitter [in 2019].
Q: What was that like?
A: It was a very special different feeling that you get only from that game, not from anywhere else, and I would love to experience something like that again.
Q: Best baseball moment here?
A: First outing.
Q: Boyhood idols?
A: Ichiro [Suzuki] and Hideki Matsui.
Q: What do you want to say about your wife and children?
A: I’m obviously far from them right now. I’m not able to see them, but especially seeing my kids [8-year-old girl, 6-year-old boy], they give me a lot of power and energy. I’m only able to FaceTime them.
Q: Favorite movie or show?
A: “Young Sheldon” (laugh).
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Bradley Cooper.
Q: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your journey?
A: Obviously, there are a good amount of accomplishments and accolades and stuff like that I’ve been able to get, but I think it comes down to how I made it here from the development leagues in Japan from the very, very bottom level. I don’t think that’s something that anybody’s accomplished yet so far, and probably won’t be very many people that accomplish that.
Q: Career goals?
A: Winning a World Series.
Q: What do you hope or want Mets fans to say about you?
A: It brings me a lot of joy that the fans and the organization as a whole had made the ghost fork a really big thing. It’s an honor to have anything named after you, not very many people have anything like that. If Mets fans made the ghost fork a thing and made it big so if they can remember it and remember me — they don’t have to remember my name — but if they think, “Oh, there was that one cool Japanese pitcher,” that’s exactly who it was for, that’s plenty.
