For Kodai Senga and the Mets organization alike, Monday morning’s press conference was a long time coming.
Senga, who finalized a five-year deal — worth $75 million, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand — with the Mets on Saturday, spent 11 seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Fukuoka Softbank Hawks before getting a chance to test unrestricted international free agency this offseason.
The right-hander wanted to come to MLB sooner, but he would have had to go through the posting system, and the Hawks have a policy against posting their players.
Armed with a fastball that can touch triple digits and a nasty forkball/splitter, Senga recorded a 1.89 ERA with 159 strikeouts and 50 walks over 148 innings in 2022.