In his introductory press conference Monday, Kodai Senga says he chose the Mets in part because he knew the team really wanted him, and he felt he could "continue to grow with the people surrounding me here."
The latter is on him, but the former is all on GM Billy Eppler, who said after Senga's intro that indeed, even with a 1A and 1B in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, the thought of adding another ace in the Japanese righty was tantalizing.
"We've scouted him from afar for a number of years, and we knew when he hit free agency that we would want to make this day a reality," Eppler said. "Buck (Showalter), Jeremy Hefner, Eric Jagers and myself had a chance to sit down with Kodai in the middle of November, and after that meeting, it just reinforced our belief in him."we knew when he hit free agency that we would want to make this day a reality
Senga joked that at that meeting, he thought Showalter "had a really intimidating face" before later realizing "how comfortable I can be around someone like that" after hearing Buck crack jokes.
Sounds like he's going to fit in just fine, and he's another winner in a stable of hurlers that includes two of the last four World Series titles, six Cy Young Awards, and two other veterans.
"Kodai is a highly accomplished pitcher. He was a member of five championship teams in Japan, oftentimes starting Game 1, sometimes starting the clinching game," Eppler said. "And in the early years, coming out of the bullpen. He knows what it takes to win. We're looking forward to adding a player with that kind of resilience to our roster and to our pitching staff."
Eppler also said the Mets were "drawn to Kodai's resilience and work ethic," seeing him as someone who is "always curious to learn and be better."
"I would classify Kodai as definitely a growth mindset type person," Eppler said. "What became apparent was his goal is to win a championship here. I think the pursuit of the ring, the trophy, the ultimate prize, that's what drives him."
How well Senga does remains to be seen, but the Mets are pretty confident he'll find success based on what they've seen and what the analytics tell them.
"We rely on our scouting reports, we rely on the projections," Eppler said. "Some of my mentors always talked about guys that had big, impactful tools, and we try to gravitate toward that because they'll show up in big-time games. As far as Kodai's concerned, he encompasses impact level pitches and an impact level arsenal. It was a decision that we made based on a number of scouting reports and a lot of the data that we were able to capture from them. And just kind of watching him and getting to know him over the years."
So what are the "big tools" the Mets saw from Senga?
"He's rolling around with a fastball of 93 to 99 (MPH), and some have seen him as high as 100, but he knows how to use it," Eppler said. "He has an understanding of what he wants to accomplish, he knows he's got the weapons to do it. He also knows that there's a lot of learning to do.
He's been a sponge. He's been here this weekend working with some of our staff already, just trying to develop a foundation for the season and the things he needs to do to be successful here."
That speaks to the earlier notion of Senga being "growth-minded," and already, he's impressing the brass.
"He wants to get better, he's asking lots of questions, he's very curious," Eppler said. "I think that characteristic as well as the resiliency I was just talking about gives him as good a chance as any."
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