Kodai Senga Rumors: Dodgers Reportedly Interested in Star Free Agent Pitcher
Japan has produced great players who have ventured their talent into the MLB and have crushed it along the way. Guys like Shohei Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki, and the Dodgers’ very own Hideo Nomo.
However, another Japanese player has hit the market by the name of Kodai Senga, and he has drawn heavy interest from a couple of MLB teams, one of those teams being the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sources from MLB network broadcaster Jon Morosi believe LA will be in on the 29-year-old star pitcher.
Source: #Dodgers among teams showing interest in free agent Kodai Senga, who is now eligible to negotiate with @MLB teams. @MLBNetwork
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 11, 2022
Senga is a six feet tall, 178-pound right-handed starting pitcher who has been pitching since 2012 for the Nippon Professional Baseball league. He has been playing for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks up until this season.
In 2022, he had a record of 11-6, a 1.89 ERA, 159 strikeouts, and 1.04 WHIP in 148 innings pitched.
Throughout his NBP career, he has a win-loss record of 87-44, a 2.59 ERA, striking out 1252 batters in 1,089 innings pitched and 224 games.
In the 2017 World Baseball Classic games, Senga struck out five against the United States. That game happened to be at Dodger Stadium, maybe a sign of things to come.
MLB insider Bob Nightengale said that Senga might want to “make his own mark” when coming to the states to pitch on an episode of “Unfiltered” with David Kaplan.
“Usually, the guy that comes over wants to make his own mark. It’s almost like when [Shohei] Ohtani came over, he didn’t want to play for the Dodgers because they already had Nomo back in the day… didn’t want to go to Seattle because of Ichiro. It seems like a lot of the stars that come over want to make their own mark in a new city.”
If that’s the case, hopefully, the time of Nomo is long gone for Senga. You could never have enough starting pitching, and the Dodgers desperately need one, especially a chance to acquire an excellent and experienced arm like Senga’s.
We’ll see what Andrew Friedman has up his sleeve for this one.
