NPB: Hawks ace Kodai Senga gets big raise and keeps MLB option open

The right-handed pitcher Kodai senga signed a new five-year contract with Fukuoka SoftBank Hawksaccording to The Kyodo News and other outlets. Not all details of the salary are known, although Senga will receive $ 5.3MM in 2022.

More pertinent to North American fans, the contract also contains an opt-out clause after the 2022 NPB season that would allow Senga to leave the Hawks for a possible deal with a major league team:

The opt-out clause is dependent on Senga having enough time of banking service in 2022 to officially qualify as a full free agent outside of the NPB / MLB posting system, which probably shouldn’t be considered a lockdown given that Senga lost quite a bit of the 2021 season recovering. of an ankle injury.

However, Senga’s good end of the year should help answer any questions about his health. The right-hander posted a 2.66 ERA in 84 2/3 innings for the Hawks, along with a strikeout rate of 26.47% and a walkout rate of 7.94%. If that wasn’t enough, Senga also helped Japan’s Olympic baseball team capture the gold medal at last summer’s Tokyo Games.

Senga, at 1.83 meters tall and 80 kilos in weight, has made no secret of his desire to eventually prove himself in MLB and, as he told reporters, even after signing this multi-year pact with the Fukuoka team

My thinking has not wavered, as a baseball player, it is essential to live my life always aiming higher … (Next year) I want to exceed all the numbers that I have achieved so far. “

His biggest obstacle to a jump to North America has simply been the Hawks’ refusal to let him test the market. The Hawks have a team policy against sending any of their players to North American teams, and therefore Senga has simply had to wait until he is eligible.

While it seems quite likely that he will become a free agent next winter, the five-year contract allows Senga some flexibility, as various factors could end up changing his mind.

Injuries or a drop in form could convince you to stick with Fukuoka, or in terms of overall issues, the state of the pandemic or what the next MLB collective agreement will look like will certainly influence Senga’s final decision:

Senga has been one of Japan’s best pitchers for the better part of a decade, first working as a star reliever in the Hawks bullpen and then becoming a regular starter in 2016.

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Koudai Senga has a 2.69 ERA and a 28.33% strikeout rate in 945 innings in his NPB career, making three All-Star teams and twice leading the Pacific League in strikeouts.

If he stays healthy and continues to pitch that well in 2022, Senga (turning 30 in January 2023) should have no trouble attracting a noteworthy multi-year contract from major league teams next offseason.

Rafael Martinez

I am fond of the King of Sports, especially the Boston Red Sox in MLB and in general all of Mexican baseball. This profession has given me the opportunity to cover major events such as the Caribbean Series, the LMB All Star, LMP (uninterrupted since 2009), signings of important players. I had the chance to attend the 2013 World Classic in Arizona, USA, albeit as a fan. Apart from this beautiful sport, I love basketball, where I have also narrated games and even a friendly NBA 10 years ago, but I carry baseball in my veins. Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS) , from which I graduated in 2011. I was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa and started in the world of sports journalism in 2004 in the newspaper El Sol de Mazatlán, where I was a baseball columnist and reporter at the same time. In January 2009 I came to El Debate as a journalist reporter and it was almost six years (in the first stage), until in November 2014 I emigrated to the radio providing my services in Línea Directa-Grupo RSN. My cycle there ended in July 2019 and within days, El Debate gave me another opportunity to work and opened the doors for me again. That is how I came to Al Bat, where I have been since 2019 as a web journalist.

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