Kodai Senga

Analysis
After accepting a demotion to the minors Sept. 5 following a string of poor outings, Senga shined in his first start with Syracuse this past Friday, striking out eight batters over six innings while allowing one earned run on three hits and no walks. Unless the Mets place a player on a reserve list and recall Senga in a corresponding move, however, the right-hander won't be eligible to join the big club until Sept. 20. With that in mind, he'll stick around at Triple-A and will presumably stay on his typical five days' rest schedule to make his next start Thursday. If all goes well in that outing, Senga will likely rejoin the Mets for the final week of the regular season, but his exact role remains in flux. The Mets are already planning on using Sean Manaea in a piggyback role behind starter Clay Holmes on Tuesday against the Padres as the team transitions from a six-man rotation to a five-man setup during the upcoming week, and Senga could be deployed in a similar capacity as Manaea upon his return to the big club. Rookie Jonah Tong has struggled with both his command and control in his last two starts and may benefit from being used in a tandem when Senga is recalled, if Senga doesn't replace Tong in the rotation outright.