The New York Mets introduced newly signed right-hander Kodai Senga at a press conference Monday, touting his unconventional Japanese baseball journey as an indicator of future success in the majors.
Senga is the first player to join an MLB club after starting his career on a non-roster developmental contract with a Nippon Professional Baseball team.
The Aichi Prefecture native, who has inked a five-year, $75 million deal with the Mets, according to MLB.com, battled his way up through developmental baseball to eventually become SoftBank's ace pitcher and a six-time Japan Series winner.
He went 87-44 for the Hawks with a 2.59 ERA and has had at least 10 wins for seven straight years since 2016. In 22 games this year, he went 11-6 with a 1.94 ERA.
"That's a pretty good sign of resiliency," Mets general manager Billy Eppler said. "Frankly, I think it's one that Mets fans in the community would really identify with and feel good about."
Taking the podium at Citi Field, Senga introduced himself in English and spoke of his excitement at playing for a club with World Series aspirations.
"I am very happy and excited to be in the Big Apple and join such a great team," said Senga, who joins a rotation featuring multiple Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and newly added Justin Verlander.
"Those two are legends. I want to learn a lot from them while I do my best to succeed in the United States."
Senga, who turns 30 on Jan. 30, has also been learning from one of Japan's most successful baseball exports, San Diego Padres ace Yu Darvish, who helped inspire his move to the majors after they worked out together stateside in 2018.
"For many years, Darvish-san has given me advice and motivated me," Senga said. "Whenever we talked about American baseball, my desire to play here grew stronger."
Senga said Darvish's top advice was to "learn English," and he demonstrated his willingness to speak the language at his introductory conference despite his still-limited ability.
Asked by a reporter which major leaguer he most looked forward to pitching against, Senga responded in English, "the Phillies lineup," naming the Mets' fierce divisional rivals.
A Tokyo Olympic baseball gold medalist with Japan, Senga said he wanted to contribute to the Mets' success and entertain their fans in the process.
"I want to pitch in a way that makes people happy that they came to the game," he said. "I want to provide any help I can."
