{"id":800724,"date":"2026-09-09T17:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/800724\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:00:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:00:15","slug":"what-does-devin-williams-rehab-progress-mean-for-kodai-senga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/800724\/","title":{"rendered":"What does Devin Williams’ rehab progress mean for Kodai Senga?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kodai Senga<\/a> has certainly taken to the Mets<\/a>\u2019 closer role, improving this week to 7-for-7 in save opportunities.<\/p>\n

But the job might not be his for much longer.<\/p>\n

Devin Williams<\/a> threw a bullpen session Tuesday, marking his first time throwing from the mound since landing on the injured list on Aug. 10 due to a right shoulder strain.<\/p>\n

The Mets remain hopeful Williams, 31, will be activated before the season ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll evaluate where he\u2019s at and make a determination of what his next step looks like,\u201d interim manager Andy Green said Tuesday in Miami, per SNY<\/a>. \u201cAnd as long as he tends to move in the right direction, we\u2019re still optimistic that there are some outings before the year is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams is 3-2 with a 4.66 ERA this season \u2014 his first with the Mets \u2014 but he has converted 16-of-19 save opportunities and boasts 51 strikeouts in 38.2 innings.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee a healthy Williams would reclaim the closer role down the stretch, especially if the Mets opt to ease him back into action as they play out the schedule.<\/p>\n

But Wiliams remains a significant piece of the Mets\u2019 bullpen moving forward, as he has two years after this one remaining on his three-year, $51 million contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think [we] as an organization are going to carry any doubt if he doesn\u2019t pitch before the year\u2019s over,\u201d Green said. \u201cI think it\u2019s something he wants, and we want if he\u2019s healthy, but it\u2019s not something we would push to if [we] felt like we were putting him in any jeopardy for next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s got a long enough track record to have some confidence that, regardless if he throws an inning, or two, or four before this year\u2019s over, we\u2019ve got confidence that he\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is less certainty about Senga\u2019s role going into next season, which will mark the final year on the 33-year-old right-hander\u2019s five-year, $75 million contract.<\/p>\n

A starter by trade, Senga has struggled with injury and inconsistency over the past three seasons, including going 0-7 with a 9.66 ERA in eight starts this season.<\/p>\n

But Senga has flourished since moving last month into a high-leverage relief role<\/a>, which has allowed him to narrow his arsenal to his two best pitches: an upper-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss \u201cghost\u201d forkball.<\/p>\n

In Tuesday night\u2019s 7-5 win, Senga nailed down the save by throwing 10 consecutive forkballs to strike out the Marlins\u2019 Owen Caissie and Kyle Stowers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very aggressive all day long,\u201d Green said afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything you threw in the zone, they were taking a hack at, so it was more capitalizing on their aggression at that point in time. Senga did a really nice job changing the flow of the inning and getting us off the field with a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entering Wednesday night\u2019s series finale at LoanDepot Park, Senga owned a sterling 2.03 ERA with 15 strikeouts in 13.1 innings over 14 appearances since the start of August. None of those outings were for more than one inning.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Senga\u2019s bullpen entrance to Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cBeat It\u201d has energized Mets fans during a losing season. Citi Field leaned into it<\/a> by debuting a scoreboard video to accompany Senga\u2019s entrance while Mr. Met delights with MJ-inspired dance moves.<\/p>\n

Even if future ninth innings belong to Williams \u2014 a two-time National League Reliever of the Year with the Milwaukee Brewers \u2014 Senga could be a factor next season out of a Mets bullpen that recently traded away leverage relievers such as Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazob\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to see,\u201d David Stearns, the Mets\u2019 president of baseball operations, said recently of Senga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019d prefer to start, but his investment in that role and the way he\u2019s embraced that role is a great example for his teammates, for the organization as a whole, and he\u2019s done a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kodai Senga has certainly taken to the Mets\u2019 closer role, improving this week to 7-for-7 in save opportunities.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,83,1716,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203],"class_list":["post-800724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-mets","tag-baseball","tag-devin-williams","tag-kodai-senga","tag-mets","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-mets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkmets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117242155759605532","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800724","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=800724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}