Opening Day starter for the New York Mets is expected to be former All-Star left-hander José Quintana, as Kodai Senga remains out with a shoulder injury.
The Athletic’s Tim Britton revealed on Monday that left-hander José Quintana is now expected to start for the New York Mets on Opening Day.
This season, Kodai Senga was supposed to be the Mets’ first choice starter, but he missed several weeks of action due to a right shoulder strain that he sustained in February. Britton predicts that Sean Manaea, Adrian Houser, Quintana, Luis Severino, and Tylor Megill will make up New York’s five-man rotation in Senga’s absence.
Megill made 25 big league appearances for New York in 2023 and was the team’s Opening Day starter in 2022; Severino, Manaea, and Houser are all new to the Mets this season.
In the 2023 offseason, Quintana was signed by the Mets to a two-year, $26 million contract; however, he didn’t play until July since he had hip surgery during Spring Training. Quintana finished 3-6 in 13 starts down the stretch with a 3.57 ERA, 1.308 WHIP, and 1.6 WAR after he did, at last, enter the rotation.
Quintana has had a good Spring Training so far this year, despite his first Grapefruit League appearance on February 29th, where he gave up two earned runs and three walks. Nevertheless, the experienced Colombian is the front-runner in the clubhouse to start in New York’s rotation in 2024, and he is naturally thrilled about the possibility.
“It would be an honor. It’s a dream for any starting pitcher,” Quintana said, per Britton. “Big crowd, a lot of energy. It’s a gift.”
Quintana, who is 35 years old, did not open the season with the Chicago White Sox in 2017.
The southpaw played for the White Sox for the first six seasons of his Major League Baseball career before suiting up for the Chicago Cubs for the final four. Quintana pitched for four clubs in the two years before to signing a contract with the Mets: the Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals.
Quintana is 92-93 in his career with a 1.279 WHIP, 1.592 strikeouts, 3.74 ERA, and 28.0 WAR. In 2016, he was selected as an All-Star and finished 10th in the AL Cy Young voting.
Since 1962, Quintana has started Opening Day games for the Mets thirty times. At the trade deadline, the Texas Rangers acquired Max Scherzer, the top starter from the previous season, in exchange for Jacob deGrom, the New York team’s three-time Opening Day starter, who is now in Arlington.