New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga collected one more accolade from his rookie season as he was named to the Baseball Digest/eBay All-Star Rookie lineup, which was announced by the MLB Network on Tuesday.
Senga signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets after spending his professional baseball career in Japan. He joined a staff that included two Cy Young award winners in Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
By season’s end, Scherzer was with the World Series champion Texas Rangers, Verlander was with the Houston Astros and Senga was the Mets’ best starting pitcher.
Senga finished the season with a 12-7 record and a 2.98 ERA in 29 starts. He struck out 202 and walked 77 in 166.1 innings.
He also earned his first All-Star Game berth, was second in National League Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in Cy Young voting.
Before exercising his international free-agent rights to join Major League Baseball, Senga played for Nippon Professional Baseball’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. With the Hawks, he went 87-44 with a 2.59 ERA and 1,252 strikeouts. He pitched for the Hawks from 2012-22.
While in the NPB he was a three-time All-Star, a five-time Japan Series champion and helped the Japanese team win the gold medal in the 2020 Olympics.
The rest of the team includes Houston catcher Yainer Diaz, Baltimore third baseman Gunnar Henderson, Cincinnati shortstop Matt McLain, Minnesota second baseman Edouard Julien, Boston first baseman Tristan Casas, Arizona outfielder Corbin Carroll, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder James Outman, Colorado Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones, Cincinnati utility player Spencer Steer and Baltimore relief pitcher Yennier Cano.
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