Pitcher Kodai Senga of the New York Mets earned a further honor from his rookie campaign on Tuesday when the MLB Network revealed the Baseball Digest/eBay All-Star Rookie lineup.
Senga played his entire professional baseball career in Japan before agreeing to a five-year, $75 million deal with the Mets. He joined a staff that comprised Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, both winners of the Cy Young award.
Senga was the best starting pitcher for the Mets at the end of the season, Verlander was with the Houston Astros, and Scherzer was with the Texas Rangers, the winners of the World Series.
Senga made 29 starts during the season, going 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA. In 166.1 innings, he walked 77 and struck out 202 batters.
In addition, he was selected for his first All-Star Game, finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year vote, and placed seventh in the Cy Young voting.
Prior to utilizing his international free-agent privileges to sign with Major League Baseball, Senga was a player with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. He was 87-44 with a 2.59 ERA and 1,252 strikeouts in his Hawks career. From 2012 to 22, he pitched for the Hawks.
He won five Japan Series championships, was a three-time All-Star in the NPB, and assisted the Japanese team in winning the gold medal in the 2020 Olympics.
Yainer Diaz of Houston, Baltimore’s third baseman Gunnar Henderson, Matt McLain of Cincinnati, Minnesota’s second baseman Edouard Julien, Boston’s first baseman Tristan Casas, Arizona’s Corbin Carroll, James Outman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Nolan Jones of the Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati’s utility player Spencer Steer, and Baltimore’s relief pitcher Yennier Cano round out the team.