Japan’s top fireballers Kodai Senga (31) and Shintaro Fujinami (30) have met with the New York Mets.

“Mets’ Kodai Senga expressed his respect and expectations for Shintaro Fujinami, who he met as a teammate for the first time in seven years during spring training,” Japanese media outlet Junichi Shimbun reported on March 15.

Senga is a fireballer ace with a career record of 87-44-1 with one save and a 2.59 ERA in 224 games (1089 innings) in Nippon Professional Baseball. Last season, he signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the Mets and had a successful rookie campaign, going 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 29 games (166 1/3 innings). He struck out 202 batters and was named an All-Star in his first year, finishing second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting and seventh in the Cy Young Award voting. His fastball topped out at 99.8 miles per hour (160.6 km/h).

Senga, who is entering his second season in the majors, is joined as a teammate by Fujinami, who is also in his second season in the majors. It’s been seven years since they played together on Team Japan at the 2017 World Baseball Classic.

Fujinami, who has a 57-54 record with a 3.41 ERA in 189 games (994⅓ innings) in Nippon Professional Baseball, was known for his fastball, 토토사이트 which tops out at over 160 kilometers per hour, and was touted as a rival to Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers) from the time he was drafted, but he didn’t quite develop as expected. However, last season, he decided to try his hand at the major leagues and signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with Oakland, fulfilling his dream of making the big leagues.

But the barriers to the big leagues were high.

Fujinami was given a chance as a starter in Oakland, but he struggled and was relegated to the bullpen. He was eventually traded to Baltimore after going 5-8 with an 8.57 ERA in 34 games (49⅓ innings). He fared slightly better in Baltimore, going 2-2 with a 4.85 ERA in 30 games (29⅔ innings), but his rookie season was not as good, going 7-8 with a 7.18 ERA in 64 games (79 innings) with five losses and two saves.

Fujinami, who became a free agent after the season, agreed to a one-year, $33.5 million deal with the Mets on Feb. 2. Despite his poor performance last year, he earned another chance thanks to a fastball that tops out at 102.6 mph (165.1 km/h).

Senga said he and Fujinami became teammates on Japan’s 2017 national team and often share meals together. “(Fujinami) went to Oakland last year, went to Baltimore, became a starter, became a reliever, so the environment really kept changing,” he said, adding that he was rooting for Fujinami to rebound this year.

“Fujinami is a player who wants to improve himself,” said Senga, who added, “Since there are two Japanese players, I think it will be a good relationship if we talk to each other and grow together. It’s the first time we’ve really talked about baseball in depth, so I’m looking forward to what kind of baseball we’ll talk about in the future.” Senga vowed to do well in the major leagues with Fujinami.

The Dodgers, who will face the Mets this season in the same National League, if not the same division, have signed two of Japan’s top stars, 파워볼실시간 Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract and Yamamoto’s 12-year, $325 million contract set new records for the largest contract in professional sports and the largest contract for a major league pitcher, respectively.

Senga, who met Ohtani and Yamamoto as enemies, says, “We became National League players. Not only Ohtani and Yamamoto, but the other players are all great players. I hope I can prepare myself to perform well and have a good season,” Senga said, looking forward to facing the Dodgers.