Mets have 0 regrets signing Japan’s forkball ace
Going into the 2023 season, the Mets had Scherzer and Verlander as expected 1-2 pitchers. Quickly the train went off the rails and both pitchers were hurt and performing poorly, only to be traded away mid-season.
The spotlight turned to Senga, who pitched his way to a ROY runner-up with 29 starts, a 2.98 ERA, and a 4.5 WAR.
Pitch counts
Senga throws 3 main pitches: Fastball, Cutter, Forkball.
| pitch type | Release speed | percentage thrown |
|---|---|---|
| Fastball | 95.6 | 37% |
| Cutter | 90.8 | 25% |
| Forkball | 83.2 | 24% |
As far as his fastball and cutter goes, Senga throws decent speed but nothing out of the ordinary. His forkball is his specialty and is used heavily in getting batters out.
Pitch count with n strikes
| pitch type (o strikes) | percentage thrown |
|---|---|
| Fastball | 42% |
| Cutter | 32% |
| Forkball | 7% |
| pitch type (1 strikes) | percentage thrown |
|---|---|
| Fastball | 33% |
| Cutter | 29% |
| Forkball | 24% |
| pitch type (2 strikes) | percentage thrown |
|---|---|
| Forkball | 45% |
| Fastball | 35% |
| Cutter | 12% |
The strikeout pitch
Senga had 202 strikeouts in 2023. 55% of them came from the Forkball, 30% came from Fastball.
Visualizing pitch data
Let’s visualize where Senga pitches at specific pitch counts.
Data Source
We used R to get this data and report!
baseballr, calledstrike