{"id":668601,"date":"2026-04-07T15:31:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668601\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:31:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:31:23","slug":"mets-deep-rotation-looking-like-a-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668601\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets’ deep rotation looking like a strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their offseason trade for Freddy Peralta, the Mets<\/a> acquired the kind of bona-fide ace they lacked during last season\u2019s collapse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And there was no shortage of optimism that rookie phenom Nolan McLean would continue his top-of-the-rotation ascent after he dazzled during last year\u2019s second-half call-up.<\/p>\n

But torrid starts by Kodai Senga and Clay Holmes have turned this year\u2019s rotation into a full-blown early-season strength \u2014 and it\u2019s giving the Mets reason to dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we stay healthy, stay out on the mound, we can be a stabilizing force for the team,\u201d Senga said through an interpreter after Sunday\u2019s 5-2 win in San Francisco<\/a>. \u201cThat goes for everybody and myself. I don\u2019t want to be the one lagging behind. I want to be up there with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering Tuesday, the Mets\u2019 rotation boasted a cumulative 3.13 ERA, which ranked eighth among MLB starting staffs.<\/p>\n

Their five starters had totaled 54.2 innings, the third most among MLB rotations.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s even with relatively slow starts by the right-handed Peralta, who began Tuesday with a 4.35 ERA through 10.1 innings, and the left-handed David Peterson, who has a 4.66 ERA over 9.2 innings.<\/p>\n

While the Mets\u2019 new-look offense got going during three consecutive wins in San Francisco over the weekend, the rotation has been the driving force in the team\u2019s 6-4 start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts on the mound, setting the tone, getting the offense back in the dugout,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cShut-down innings after we score. The pitching staff attacking [opposing hitters].\u201d<\/p>\n

McLean, 24, began Friday\u2019s start with five perfect frames<\/a> before he allowed two walks and a hit in the sixth inning of a 10-3 win over the Giants.<\/p>\n

The right-hander is 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA through two starts this season and 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA over 10 career MLB starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou feel good about your chances every time he takes the baseball,\u201d Mendoza said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time he\u2019s pitching, you feel good about winning that game, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s done. Even when he\u2019s not at his best, you know that he\u2019s going to keep you in games. You know he\u2019s going to at least go five [innings]. That\u2019s what makes him special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holmes then hurled seven shutout innings in Saturday\u2019s 9-0 victory<\/a>. Now in his second year since converting to the rotation, Holmes \u2014 a former Yankees closer \u2014 improved to 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA over 12.2 innings.<\/p>\n

And then Senga wrapped the weekend with 5.2 innings of two-run ball, striking out seven, and took a no-decision in the Mets\u2019 series-clinching victory over the Giants.<\/p>\n

Senga is 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA through two starts, and his four-seam fastball is averaging 96.7 mph \u2014 two full mph faster than last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Notably, Sunday\u2019s outing marked only the fifth time in four MLB seasons that Senga pitched on regular rest. The Mets have typically found ways to give Senga an extra day between starts to better replicate the schedule he followed in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the pitching schedule is, whether it\u2019s regular rest or an extra day, as long as I know ahead of time and I\u2019m able to live on that schedule, then it\u2019s no problem,\u201d Senga, 33, said.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is a small sample size.<\/p>\n

Through 69 games last year, the Mets were 45-24, and their starters owned an MLB-best 2.79 ERA.<\/p>\n

But on June 12, Senga (who was 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA at that point) injured his hamstring, and he was never close to the same pitcher upon returning.<\/p>\n

From June 13 on, the Mets\u2019 starters pitched to a 5.27 ERA \u2014 the fourth-worst mark in the majors \u2014 and averaged only 4.6 innings per outing.<\/p>\n

But the addition of Peralta, who finished fifth in 2025 National League Cy Young Award voting with Milwaukee, and a full season of McLean figures to help the Mets avoid a similar fate this year, while taking some pressure off of Senga, Holmes and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a really strong group,\u201d Senga said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their offseason trade for Freddy Peralta, the Mets acquired the kind of bona-fide ace they lacked during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,1712,753,1716,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,2517,5749],"class_list":{"0":"post-668601","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-clay-holmes","10":"tag-freddy-peralta","11":"tag-kodai-senga","12":"tag-mets","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-mets","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkmets","18":"tag-nolan-mclean","19":"tag-rotation"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116364148516778554","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}