The Mets announced Tuesday that it was OK Kodai Senga placed on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation of the lumbar spine. The right hand Christian Scott recalled to Triple-A Syracuse in his place.
Senga, the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year, has seen his standing in the Mets organization decline significantly in recent seasons. He missed the 2024 season due to injury, came back strong in early 2025 but collapsed in the summer. Although he finished the 2025 season with a 3.02 ERA, all of Senga’s hits came in the first three months of the season. He struggled so much over the summer — 6.56 ERA, eight homers, 22 walks in 35 2/3 innings — that he agreed to be optioned by the Mets.
An early return in 2026 was promising. Senga gave up just two runs with an 11-to-1 K/BB ratio in 9 2/3 spring frames. He went 11 2/3 innings and held opponents to four runs with a 16-to-5 K/BB ratio in his first two innings this year. He looked to be back on track – at least until his third season started. Senga was tagged in seven runs, followed by another seven-run clunker (six earned), and lasted just 2 2/3 innings (three runs allowed) in his most recent start. In his past three turns, he has totaled just 8 1/3 innings but has given up 16 earned runs on the strength of five homers — all while giving up more walks (eight) than strikeouts (seven).
Senga averaged 97.4 mph on his four-seamer debut in 2026, but has declined since then. His average fastball dropped to 96 mph in his second start and sat between 95.1 mph and 95.7 mph in each of his next three starts. That’s still better than average velocity, but a two-mile-per-hour drop since March 31 certainly seems to suggest he’s been throwing below 100 percent.
The Mets have not given a timetable for Senga’s return. That will be close to today’s game, if you are the captain Carlos Mendoza he meets the media. Regardless, today’s injury announcement continues Senga’s worrying decline. His struggles have played a significant role in the Mets’ overall poor performance, and getting a healthy right-hander could go a long way in helping the Mets dig themselves out of the 9-19 hole they’ve dug through the first month of the season.
Scott, once one of the game’s top prospects, will look to play his part in that transition. He entered the 2024 season considered the Mets’ top prospect and one of the top 100 prospects in sports. He had a great start that summer but ended up needing Tommy John surgery which ended his entire 2025 campaign. Scott made his big league debut last week against the Twins, and it didn’t go well; he faced 10 batters, walking five and pitching the sixth. He didn’t get out of the second inning, and the Mets optioned him back to Triple-A the next day.
This isn’t the best start to his big league campaign, but Scott has had some encouraging results at Syracuse. Granted, a 5.27 ERA doesn’t look like much, but it came in a small sample of 13 2/3 innings. Scott gave up six runs in 3 1/3 frames in his first game since 2024, but bounced back with just two runs allowed in 10 1/3 innings in his next two Triple-A starts. He’s sitting at a solid 17-to-2 K/BB ratio in Syracuse, though he also struck out two batters there. Still, Scott has a nearly 30% strikeout rate and is sitting at 95.4 mph on his four-seamer this year — a full mile per hour north of the 94.1 mph he averaged back in 2024.
The Mets got some great results from the rookie ace Nolan McLean and veterans Clay Holmes. Discovery of the season Freddy Peralta It started badly but it has put together three sharp contests. Milk once David Peterson they struggled throughout the year. The former is now on the injured list, while the latter was taken to the bullpen to now rotate through the rotation. If Scott struggles again in Senga’s spot, it’s possible Peterson will be plugged back into that rotation, but the situation seems fluid due to several ineffective and/or injured options on the staff.
