159.3 km/h to ‘ghost fork’… 8K Senga Summon ‘Legend’ Tom Seaver

Japanese pitcher Senga Godai (30, New York Mets) made a soft landing in the American Major League (MLB).

On the 3rd (Korean time), Senga started at the Miami Marlins away game held at Rondipo Park, Florida, USA, and led the team to a 5-1 victory with 3 hits안전놀이터, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts and 1 run in 5 1/3 innings. Senga, who won his big league debut, said through an interpreter, “I was definitely nervous in the first inning. My legs felt like a ghost.” “he said.

It was a successful debut. According to ESPN, an American sports channel, 8 strikeouts in his MLB debut are tied for 4th with Kazuhisa Ishii, Daisuke Matsuzaka (10) and Hideki Irabu (9). In Mets history, he is tied for third after Matt Harvey (11) and Colin McHugh (9). Legend Tom Seaver, representing the Mets, struck out 8 strikeouts in his big league debut in 1967, the same as Senga.

Senga’s pitching was stable. According to Baseball Savant, an MLB statistics site, the highest velocity of a four-seam fastball (32) was taken up to 99 miles (159.3 km/h). He was heavy enough to reach an average velocity of 96.8 miles (155.8 km/h). His change pitches varied between forkballs (26) and sliders (18) and cut fastballs (12). In particular, Miami hitters could not properly cope with the forkball, to the extent that 9 out of 14 swings were misses.

In the top of the 6th inning, Senga struck out lead hitter Jazz Chizom Jr. and then went down the mound. Mets manager Buck Showalter started the bullpen one beat fast with 88 pitches. Mets fans cheered as Senga walked toward the dugout with the winning pitcher requirements. 

Senga, who debuted in 2012, is a superstar representing the Softbank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Until last year, he had a career record of 87 wins and 44 losses with an earned run average of 2.59. Beginning in 2016, he also had seven consecutive double-digit victories. He realized his dream of advancing to the big leagues by signing a five-year contract with the Mets for a total of $75 million (98.7 billion won) as an offseason free agent (FA). He played on the Japanese national team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC), but was absent from the recent tournament to adapt to the big leagues. The main weapon is a forkball with a large drop. In NPB, Senga’s poke balls were called ‘ghost poke’.