Inside The Mets

Mets’ Kodai Senga unleashes new Miracle Ball pitch during Grapefruit League game

The New York Mets’ star pitcher seems to have added a new curveball to his arsenal during the offseason.

Michael Sakuraba

Feb 12, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga (34) works during Spring Training workouts at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Feb 12, 2025; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga (34) works during Spring Training workouts at Clover Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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New York Mets fans are quite familiar with Kodai Senga’s "Ghost Fork" pitch. But on Friday, the Japanese star pitcher introduced a new pitch in his arsenal: the Miracle Ball.

During the third inning of Friday’s Grapefruit League game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Senga threw a looping curveball that registered at just 63.5 mph. It was the second-slowest pitch Senga has thrown since coming to MLB; the slowest was another curveball that clocked in at 63.2 mph as a rookie.

The speed of the pitch threw Cardinals' catcher Yohel Pozo off balance, and he fouled it off back in the Port St. Lucie crowd. Pozo would homer later in the at-bat, but this accounted for the only two runs that Senga allowed over his 3.1 inning outing.

When asked by the media about the pitch after the game, Senga smirked and dubbed it his "Miracle Ball" pitch.

“Didn’t have any thoughts,” Senga said through an interpreter. “Threw it lightly and it went in the zone. So…great. If it's that slow, I'm going to regret it if it gets hit.”

Senga was non-committal about adding it to his repertoire and smiled when a reporter asked if he was trying to emulate fellow countryman Yu Darvish’s eephus pitch. Darvish’s famous curveball has clocked in at a speed as slow as 51 mph.

It’s safe to say that Senga was just experimenting with the new pitch during Spring Training, and that the Miracle Ball likely won’t be a permanent addition to his arsenal. According to Statcast, Senga threw a variety of different pitches on Friday; this included a four-seam fastball, a sweeper, a cutter, a slider, and of course, his famous Ghost Fork.

Read More: Mets' Kodai Senga makes assertion about readiness for Opening Day

The Ghost Fork has been Senga’s most effective weapon since joining the Mets in 2023. The pitch has opponents hitting just .113 since his major league debut and has been his bread and butter in a two-strike count. It is also Senga’s signature pitch, similar to Shohei Ohtani’s sweeper and Los Angeles Dodger teammate Roki Sasaki’s splitter.

Senga struggled with injuries in 2024, pitching just 5.1 innings in the regular season and five innings in the playoffs. He’s struggled to regain his form from 2023 when he finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and he owns a 3.38 ERA and 1.69 WHIP through 5.1 innings of work this spring.

Before Spring Training, Senga was thought of as the favorite to be the Mets’ Opening Day starter but on Friday, manager Carlos Mendoza announced that Clay Holmes would get the ball to start the season against the Houston Astros.

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Michael Sakuraba
MICHAEL SAKURABA

Mike Sakuraba is a contributing writer for the Mets On SI site. He has previously written for Betcris, Rotocurve, and TimTurkhockey.com.

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