The New York Mets and injuries have gone hand-in-hand throughout the 2024 campaign, which began months before the first pitch of the season was thrown.
2023 all-star and projected ace of the staff, Kodai Senga, suffered a moderate capsule strain in his right shoulder in February.
The 31-year-old underwent numerous setbacks during his recovery before finally being healthy enough to make his season debut against the Atlanta Braves last month.
Senga would last just 5.1 innings as the Japanese native went down after vacating the mound on an infield pop-up with what would eventually be diagnosed as a high-grade calf strain.
However, despite the severity of the injury, the Mets never ruled out Senga for the entirety of the season. On Friday afternoon, the president of baseball operations, David Stearns, provided an update on his status.
Senga is getting closer to throwing
While speaking to the media on Friday, Stearns provided an update on the Mets’ injured ace.
“He’s still going through the initial stages of the recovery,” Stearns said. “The good news is because it is a lower-body injury, he’s able to keep his arm going, but we haven’t done any upright throwing yet. We’re still in immobilized throwing. So, I can’t answer the question on his likelihood for October. We need to get him upright and throwing, see how his arm responds and then we’ll have a better idea of where this is headed.”
When asked about when Senga would be able to throw upright again, the 39-year-old added that they hope that will occur over the next 10 days.
What does this mean for the Mets
This is a positive update for the blue and orange, as many thought that once Senga went down with his calf injury, his season would be over regardless of the Mets’ playoff status.
Senga likely won’t be back in time to help the blue and orange make the postseason, but the fact that the master of the ghost-forkball potentially could be throwing that pitch in the year’s scariest month should excite the Flushing Faithful.