Mets' Senga feels unready to return after rough Triple-A outing - ESPN

NEW YORK — When New York Mets right-hander Kodai Senga agreed to be optioned to Triple-A earlier this month to work on his mechanics, the ideal scenario was that he would rejoin the club soon after he was eligible to return on Sept. 20. But that isn't happening.

Senga told club officials on a call Friday that, despite being healthy, he is not ready to pitch at the major league level after surrendering four runs over 3⅔ innings for Triple-A Syracuse on Thursday. With the minor league season concluding Sunday, the plan instead is to have Senga face hitters in a simulated setting next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said the team is determining where that will take place, because Senga is not allowed to be with the major league team while optioned.

Senga's first start since volunteering for the demotion was encouraging: Six innings, three hits, one run and eight strikeouts to no walks. But Thursday's start represented a significant regression for the reset.

«Stuff wise, [he] was down,» Mendoza said of Senga's outing on Thursday. «Whether it was the velo, execution, the secondary pitches were not sharp. So that's the report that I got. And then, watching film, you could see it. And that's probably one of the reasons he's asking for one more time to face hitters, just to kind of continue to work through those issues. So that's what we saw.»

This isn't the first time a healthy Senga, 32, has informed the Mets that he is not comfortable pitching in major league games while healthy. Last season, Senga cited mechanical problems multiple times as the reason for delaying his season debut until late July after a shoulder injury had healed. He then strained his left calf in his first start and didn't pitch in the