San Diego Padres fans excited by report that team has met with Japanese star pitcher Kodai Senga to discuss a contract

The San Diego Padres and Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga met in San Diego on Thursday to reportedly discuss a contract. San Diego are one of the many teams to be linked to Senga. Kodai Senga most recently pitched with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the Nippon Professional Baseball League.

Signing the Japanese righty would make a lot of sense for the San Diego Padres. The team is looking to add some depth to its rotation. Senga would be a great addition as the righty throws an upper 90s fastball with an extremely effective splitter.

Kodai Senga being close with Yu Darvish and being a former teammate of Nick Martinez and Robert Suarez should give the Padres an advantage in negotiations.

San Diego Padres fans were ecstatic to hear that the team met with Senga on Thursday. They believe that he would fit nicely into their rotation alongside Darvish.

Fans want the team's general manager, A.J. Preller, to get the deal done as soon as possible. They think the off-season would be a huge success if that were to happen. Some fans even want signing Senga to be the team's top priority in the off-season.

Kodai Senga would be a great fit for the San Diego Padres

Kodai Senga has already provided nine years of service in Japan, qualifying him for free agency. International players playing in Japan or Korea must complete nine seasons to be eligible to pursue contracts with other leagues.

Senga has been regarded as one of Japan's best pitchers for some time now. He struck out 144 batters in 156 innings pitched last season. He struck out 27.5% of the batters that he faced.

He throws a fastball that sits in the upper 90s, while touching 100 mph at times. He throws an effective splitter that he calls the "ghost fork." He also possesses a slurve that falls right off the table.

He's a great pitcher, but he doesn't come without some concerns. He's only topped 150 innings pitched twice in his career. He's missed some games this year due to elbow soreness. He also missed a couple of months in 2021 after tweaking his ankle.

The San Diego Padres will have to keep his injury history in mind if they offer him a contract for the 2023 season.

About the author

Jared "Bloomy" Bloom is a journalist covering Major League Baseball at Sportskeeda and a former college baseball pitcher from Illinois, who just graduated with a Master's degree in Sport Psychology.

A writer with over 3 years of experience, Jared is consistently more concerned with quality than quantity, thoroughly checking multiple sources of information, and prides himself in being knowledgeable not just about MLB, but the game of baseball in general. He loves breaking down plays and game-changing moments, as well as looking closer into players' statistics.

Jared is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, and one of his earliest memories is seeing his great-grandfather, a huge Sox fan, in his rocking chair watching a game. Jared started playing from the age of 5 with his grandfather coaching him early on.

Jared loved Tim Lincecum for his quirky delivery and looked up to him as a role model when playing. His current favorite is Phillies star Bryce Harper, an exciting player who doesn't let injuries hold him back. Jared's favorite sports moment is Mark Buehrle's opening day between-the-legs glove flip to first base in 2010.

When he is not watching or writing about baseball, Jared can be found racing BMX at his local Rockford BMX track or coaching his local youth travel baseball team.

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