Ranking the 3 roster replacements for Kodai Senga after the latest injury update

And so it begins. New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga has a mild shoulder strain and is expected to start the season on the injured list, according to team baseball operations chief David Stearns. Senga had expected to be the Opening Day starter, but now the Mets are down their ace until the pain in his shouler subsides.

So this will leave the Mets searching for answers. When talking to the press, Stearns said that the Kodai Senga injury doesn't mean the chances Mets will sign someone else will increase, such as Scott Boras clients Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Nor will the Mets have their top pitching prospects start the season in Flushing, like Christian Scott, Mike Vasil, or Dom Hamel.

Instead, the competition will be from within the organization.

3. Jose Butto

Jose Butto made seven starts with the Mets in 2023, including five in the last four weeks of the season. In those five starts, he went 1-2, with a 3.29 ERA, striking out 28 batters, while walking just nine. Four of his starts came against teams that made the playoffs, and four of his starts were pretty good. He proved that he can provide pitching depth in the majors when called upon, and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner deserves credit for finding a fix to boost confidence.

For all the talk about where the Mets would get innings from, and Butto's proof that he could consistently pitch five or six innings can go a long way at some point. Now with Senga's injury, the opportunity is there for him in spring training to pick up where he left off in September.

The thing that Butto will have to show in spring training is giving up soft contact. In the five starts down the stretch, just 9.6 percent of his contact was soft contact. He will also need to keep showing his swing and miss stuff on his offspeed and breaking pitches.

1. Tylor Megill

Tylor Megill entered spring training as the favorite to be the next-in-line starter for the Mets, should an injury transpire. Megill's averages in 2023 were not as strong as those of Jose Butto and Joey Lucchesi (4.70 ERA, 90 ERA+, 4.96 FIP in 126.1 innings pitched in 2023 for Megill). But has the most recent experience under his belt, which makes him the leading candidate entering spring ball.

After showing a lack of confidence and command in May and June, he was optioned to the minors to fix those, and then he came back strong, and put together a nice end fo the season. After getting roughed up by the sport's eventual No. 1 seeds (Baltimore and Atlanta) in his first two starts back, he pitched fine after that. He pitched to a 3.00 ERA in 45 innings in his final eight starts.

What also helps for Megill in the short term is that he always pitched well in April, when the weather is colder and hitters don't often connect on his fastball. Speaking of the fastball, he got shellacked by it because of control issues that allowed hitters to sit on the fastball. So Megill will have to show the command issues that he had last year are a thing of the past to keep him the favorite to make the team in Senga's absence.

Speaking of Senga and Megill, Megill used some of Senga's ghost fork action in his last start of the season, and he wound up pitching a career-high 7.1 innings in that game.

Besides, if Senga comes back in May and there are no other injuries to their rotation, the Mets can send him down without having to worry about him pitching in months other than April.