Mets' Kodai Senga, Cubs' Shota Imanaga made same crucial change for 2026 MLB season
This can definitely be a big help.
Mets' Kodai Senga, Cubs' Shota Imanaga made same crucial change for 2026 MLB season originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The New York Mets ' Kodai Senga and the Chicago Cubs ' Shota Imanaga came to MLB from Japan's NPB with a lot of hype.
But by the 2025 season, both had encountered some struggles, and they entered this year hoping to take steps back in the right direction. It's still early, but one of the biggest pitching developments of the early 2026 MLB campaign applies to both Senga and Imanaga -- their velocities are up. Senga is throwing his four-seam fastball 2.
0 miles per hour faster than a season ago, up to 96. 7 MPH. "Senga struggled with his fastball in 2025: It was his least valuable pitch, with a -6 run value," MLB.
com's Jared Greenspan wrote in a new article on Wednesday . "The opposition hit . 281 with a .