Kodai Senga

Kodai Senga (千賀 滉大) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He made his Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) debut in for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and played for them until.

He is a three-time NPB All-Star and a one-time MLB All-Star.

Senga was born in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, where he started playing rubber-ball baseball as a third baseman until he graduated from middle school, then switched from third baseman to pitcher due to the manager of Gamagori High School baseball club, who saw the quality of Senga's throwing fitting more as a pitcher.

Although Senga and his team never made it to either Japanese High School Baseball Championship or Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in Koshien Stadium, the owner of a sporting goods store in Nagoya recommended Senga to Kazuo Ogawa, then-the scout manager of Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, as a potential player to be drafted.

The Hawks are the only NPB team to have never posted a player since the posting system was implemented in 1998.

On October 28, 2010, Senga was drafted as a developmental player by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball draft with Takuya Kai and Taisei Makihara.

From 2011 to mid-2012, he played in informal matches against the Shikoku Island League Plus's teams, other amateur baseball teams, and played in the Western League of NPB's second league.

On April 23, 2012, he signed a 4.4 million yen contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks as a registered player under control.

On April 30, Senga debuted in the Pacific League against the Chiba Lotte Marines as a starter.

In 2012 season, he pitched two games in the Pacific League.

In a game against the Saitama Seibu Lions on May 12, 2013, Senga pitched as a relief pitcher and obtained his first win as a pitcher.

In the 2013 season, he tied the Pacific League record of consecutive no-Run innings (34 1⁄3 innings) by a relief pitcher.

On July 19, he participated in the All-Star Game for the first time in MAZADA All-Star Game 2013.

On September 4, he left the team with a strain on his left flank and spent the rest of the season rehabilitating.

Senga recorded 51 Games pitched, a 1–4 Win–loss record, a 2.40 ERA, 17 Holds, one save, and 85 strikeouts in 56.1 innings.

In the 2014 season, Senga pitched as a reliever, but on June 15 he hurt his right shoulder and spent the rest of the season rehabilitating his right shoulder.

He finished the regular season with a 19 Games pitched, a 1–1 Win–loss record, a 1.99 ERA, 3 Holds, and 28 strikeouts in 22.2 innings.

In the 2015 season, Senga pitched in the Pacific League in August, partly due to the rehabilitation of his right shoulder.

On August 19, he got his first win as a starting pitcher, finishing the regular season with 4 Games pitched, a 2–1 Win–loss record, a 0.40 ERA, and 21 strikeouts in 22.1 innings.

In the 2015 Japan Series against the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, he relief pitched in Games 3 and 4.

In the 2016 season, Senga pitched as a starting pitcher and finished the regular season with 25 Games pitched, a 12–3 Win–loss record, a 2.61 ERA, and 181 strikeouts in 169 innings.

The 12 wins in the regular season were the most wins for a pitcher drafted as a developmental squad player and became an NPB record.

On July 14, 2017, Senga participated in the mynavi All-Star Game for the 2nd time in his career.

In the 2017 season, he finished the regular season with a 13–4 Win–loss record, a 2.64 ERA, 151 strikeouts in 143 innings and won the 2017 Pacific League Winning percentage Championship (.765 Winning percentage).

In the 2017 Japan Series against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, he was the first pitcher from the developmental player to pitch as a starting pitcher in the opening game.

Senga and Kai's battery were the first to win the Japan Series as players who were drafted as developmental players.

In the opening game of the 2018 season against the Orix Buffaloes on March 30, 2018, Senga pitched his first Opening Day game as a starter.

On August 17, in the match against the Orix Buffaloes, he achieved his first shutout game.

Senga finished the regular season with 22 Games pitched, a 13–7 Win–loss record, a 3.51 ERA, and 163 strikeouts in 141 innings.

In the 2018 Japan Series against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, he pitched in Game 1 and Game 5 as a starting pitcher and contributed to the team's second consecutive Japan Series championship, as well as their 4th in 5 years.

In 2019, Senga attempted unsuccessfully to get the Hawks to post him to Major League Baseball.

On July 12, 2019, Senga participated in the mynavi All-Star Game 2019 for the 3rd time.

On September 6, 2019, he pitched the second no-hitter in Hawks history, the first no-hitter for the Hawks since 1943.

Senga finished the regular season with 26 Games pitched, a 13–8 Win–loss record, a 2.79 ERA, and 227 strikeouts in 180.1 innings.

In the 2019 Japan Series against the Yomiuri Giants, he became the winning pitcher in Game 1 and contributed to the team's third consecutive Japan Series championship.

On November 26, Senga was honored for the Pacific League strikeout leader Award, Mitsui Golden Glove Award, and Pacific League Best Nine Award at the NPB AWARD 2019.

In the match against the Chiba Lotte Marines on November 4, 2020, Senga recorded a total of 1,000 strikeouts.

In the 2020 season, Senga finished the regular season with 18 Games pitched, a 11–6 Win–loss record, a 2.16 ERA, and 149 strikeouts in 121 innings.

In the 2020 Japan Series against the Yomiuri Giants, he has pitched as a starting pitcher in the opening game of the Japan Series for the fourth consecutive year, being the first pitcher to do so since Tsuneo Horiuchi, and became the winning pitcher with no runs in seven innings, contributing to the team's fourth consecutive Japan Series championship.