Senga follows Team Japan as a fan this year
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Japan’s early World Baseball Classic video games typically started round 5 a.m. ET — a difficult tv schedule for these on the East Coast with a vested curiosity. Even Mets pitcher Kodai Senga was capable of watch solely highlights.
Months earlier than the match, Senga made what he known as a tough resolution to not go well with up once more for Team Japan. A star of the 2017 occasion, Senga tied for the match lead with 16 strikeouts in 11 innings — a complete that also ranks within the prime 10 in WBC historical past. He threw 5 shutout innings in Japan’s second-round clincher towards Israel, although Senga bristles on the considered the lone run he allowed in a semifinal recreation towards the United States. He took the loss that night time at Dodger Stadium regardless of putting out Eric Hosmer, Andrew McCutchen, Buster Posey and Giancarlo Stanton in succession.
“Obviously, it was a lot of fun facing really famous, big-name hitters that I always dreamt of facing,” Senga recalled earlier this month by way of interpreter Hiro Fujiwara. “But also the fact that we lost a game because of my pitching — they got to me and they hit me, and that’s why we lost. So it was a very memorable game in all sorts of ways.”
In weighing whether or not to take part on this 12 months’s Classic, Senga thought-about varied elements, together with the consequences of flying internationally in March and lacking essential improvement time again in Florida. One of his mentors, Yu Darvish, had already clued him in on what to anticipate within the United States.
Senga was conscious that the changes can be plentiful, together with America’s bigger, slicker baseballs; an unfamiliar work schedule involving extra frequent begins; and modifications to food regimen and diet which are an unavoidable cultural difficulty.
Rather than compress his adjustment interval, Senga determined the accountable factor was to forgo pitching for Japan — as a lot because it pained him to do it.
“I thought it would be kind of like an oxymoron saying I want to do well in the big leagues, but not preparing for the big leagues and playing in the WBC,” Senga mentioned.
His resolution proved prescient early in camp, when Senga developed tendinitis close to the bottom of his proper index finger — possible the results of squeezing the unfamiliar American baseballs too tightly, in line with Mets normal supervisor Billy Eppler. Had that difficulty popped up through the WBC, Senga might need discovered it tough to get better in time for the season. As it was, he made it again to the mound on Thursday and struck out 5 batters in three innings to quell any lingering worries.
All the whereas, Senga saved tabs on Team Japan, partly wishing he may have been pitching alongside fellow nationwide stars Shohei Ohtani, Darvish and Roki Sasaki. In the early days of the occasion, Senga texted a motivating message to his former SoftBank Hawks teammates Takuya Kai, Taisei Makihara and Ukyo Shuto, none of whom performed within the 2017 WBC.
“Obviously, a lot of thoughts run through my head when I watch them on TV,” Senga mentioned. “But the reason why I declined their offer was because I needed to get ready for the season. In order to make that reason a reality, I just need to continue to adjust and perform and get ready.”
