Mets place Kodai Senga on IL, recall Christian Scott from Syracuse

The Mets turned Syracuse into their emergency pitching reservoir on Tuesday, placing Kodai Senga on the 15-day injured list with lumbar spine inflammation and recalling Christian Scott in the corresponding move. The transaction was made retroactive to April 27, and it came with the Mets opening a series against the Nationals, leaving New York to patch a rotation that has already been in motion for weeks.

Senga’s absence lands after a rough start to 2026 and adds another concern to a pitcher the Mets were counting on as a central rotation piece. MLB.com noted he also missed time in 2025 after suffering a hamstring strain in June, a reminder that his availability has already become part of the team’s larger pitching equation. The move did not arrive in isolation, either. Earlier this month, the Mets had already begun reshuffling their starting staff, including a shift that sent David Peterson to the bullpen.

Scott’s return gives the club an immediate arm and brings him back from a brief Triple-A stint with Syracuse. The 26-year-old right-hander, a Mets fifth-round pick in 2021, has been one of the organization’s most closely watched depth pieces for years. He opened 2026 with one major league start, and his big-league line now sits at 0-0 with a 6.75 ERA in 1.1 innings.

His Syracuse numbers have been uneven but not empty. Through three Triple-A starts, Scott was 0-2 with a 5.27 ERA in 13.2 innings, but the strikeout ability still flashed: he struck out seven over five scoreless innings on April 9 and followed with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings on April 16. Those outings are the kind of evidence a club leans on when the major-league rotation starts thinning out.

For the Mets, Scott looks like both things at once: a stopgap for a Tuesday turn and a possible longer answer if the bullpen and the rest of the rotation keep shifting around him. Syracuse has become the first place New York looks when the big club needs a starter fast, and Scott’s recall shows how quickly a Triple-A line can turn into a major-league opportunity.