Introduction
Kodai Senga (千賀 滉大, Senga Kodai, born January 30, 1993, in Gamagōri, Aichi, Japan) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).
He has been consistently rated by MLB scouts as having the potential to be a top quality starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.
Professional career
On October 28, 2010, Senga was drafted as a developmental squad player (ja:育成選手制度 (日本プロ野球)) by the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the 2010 Nippon Professional Baseball draftwith Takuya Kai and Taisei Makihara.
From 2011 season to mid-2012 season, he played in informal matches against Shikoku Island League Plus's teams and amateur baseball teams, and played in the Western League of NPB's minor leagues. On April 23, 2012, he signed a 4.4 million yen contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks as a registered player under management. (ja:支配下選手登録)
In 2013 season, he lined up thePacific League record of consecutive no-Run innings (34 1/3 innings) by relief pitchers.
In 2017 season, he finished the regular season with a 13–4 Win–loss record, a 2.64 ERA, a 151 strikeouts in 143 innings and he won the 2017 Pacific League Winning percentage leader (.765 Winning percentage).
In 2019, Senga attempted unsuccessfully to get the Hawks to post him to Major League Baseball teams. On September 6, 2019, he achieved the second no-hitter as Hawks, for the first time in 76 years.This is the first time a player has been drafted with the developmental squad players draft.
International career
Senga represented the Japan national baseball team in the 2016 exhibition games against Mexico and Netherlands, 2017 World Baseball Classic.
In the 2017 World Baseball Classic,Following the conclusion of the tournament, he was named to the 2017 All-World Baseball Classic team.
On October 1, 2019, he was selected at the 2019 WBSC Premier12. But he canceled his participation because of the accumulation of fatigue in the regular season.
Playing style
Senga is a 6 ft 1 in, 185 lb right-handed pitcher. With a three-quarters delivery he throws a fastball that tops out at 161 kilometres per hour (100.0 mph), a deceptive forkball, and a slider. Due to the effectiveness of his forkball, the pitch has been nicknamed "ghost fork(ball)" in Japan.