New York Mets ace right-hander Kodai Senga has been diagnosed with a moderate posterior capsule strain in his pitching shoulder and likely is headed to the injured list to start the season.
Senga will be shut down in the interim, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told reporters on Thursday.
"He was having trouble recovering from his side sessions," Stearns said. "The way he expressed it was really shoulder fatigue. When it happened a second time, we decided to get an MRI (on Wednesday) afternoon. The doctor read the MRI this morning, examined Kodai and we have this moderate strain in his right shoulder."
Senga, 31, was an All-Star and finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting last year after going 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 29 starts. He threw 166 1/3 innings.
Senga pitched in 275 games, racking up 1,340 2/3 innings across 11 seasons in Japan before signing with the Mets.
Senga is entering the second season of a $75 million contract he signed with the Mets in December 2022.
He is expected to anchor a rotation that includes Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser.
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