Examining Seiya Suzuki’s Seamless Transition During His Inaugural MLB Season
The 2022 season isn’t even a month old and yet, Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki is already starting to become a household name.
For context, Suzuki spent nine seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Nippon Professional Baseball from 2013-2021. Last offseason, he entered Major League Baseball’s posting system, but the lockout temporarily delayed his transition to North America.
In the end, however, the 5’11” outfielder agreed to a lucrative five-year, $85-million contract with the Cubs, which runs through 2026. Paired with the posting fee that was sent to his club in Japan, this is the fifth-largest deal the organization has ever dished out.
Early on, the 27-year-old rookie has looked like anything but a first-time professional at this level. Not every player, especially at 27, can say that.
Traditionally, making the jump from Japan – or South Korea – over to North America is usually accompanied by an adjustment period. But so far, that hasn’t been the case for Suzuki.
In his first 13 games, Suzuki has earned 50 plate appearances, posting four home runs, 12 RBIs and a sensational .343/.520/.743 slash line.
Additionally, he also features a 241 wRC+ score, meaning he’s 141 per cent better than the league average, which is 100. That’s pretty remarkable considering this is his inaugural campaign.
Despite a brief drought without a single hit in three straight contests, Suzuki proved to be one of the toughest outs in the majors out of the gate, leading to his historic nine-game hitting streak.
As crazy as it may sound, it’s not entirely shocking that Suzuki’s young MLB career has gotten off to an incredible start. After all, he was widely known as an extremely talented hitter in Japan.
During his tenure with Hiroshima, the five-time NPB All-Star won two separate Central League batting titles in ‘19 and ‘21. He also finished with the highest on-base percentage in the league during those same seasons.
With regards to his slugging, Suzuki was able to excel in that department, as well. Overall, he finished with six seasons of 25-plus home runs and a .500 slugging percentage or higher from 2016-2021.
Thanks to his red-hot start, the Japanese phenom currently sits among the major-league leaders in numerous offensive categories. And rightly so. He’s been one the top-performing hitters to date.
Entering Friday, Suzuki was tied for the third-most round-trippers, the fourth-most RBIs and the fifth-highest fWAR rating (0.9), according to FanGraphs.com.
Digging deeper, he also possesses the highest OBP, the fourth-highest SLG and the 13th-highest AVG.
One of the key reasons Suzuki has been so successful has been his impressive quality of contact. Though he might be a rookie, the sound his bat makes would say otherwise as he’s been generating tons of hard contact.
During his first taste of action in the majors, the offensive-first outfielder has registered a 45.5 percent hard-hit rate, which ranks in the 67th percentile. As for his barrel rate (27.3 per cent), it resides in the 99th percentile, just one back from being atop the majors.
Chicago’s newest righty also hasn’t limited himself to just one side of the field, either. Instead, he’s been spraying balls to all three fields, forcing the opposition to play him straight up.
Putting this into perspective, Suzuki has generated a 31.8 percent pull percentage, a 45.5 percent centre percentage, and a 22.7 percent opposite percentage this season.
Aside from Thursday’s three-strikeout performance, the veteran slugger hasn’t looked phased while facing the best pitchers in the sport. Granted, he does feature a 28 per cent strikeout rate, however, some of his underlying metrics suggest there’s no cause for concern.
Thus far, Suzuki rarely extends the strike zone, courtesy of his 10.7 per cent chase rate, which ranks in the 99th percentile. His 22.4 per cent whiff isn’t alarming just yet, either, as it sits in the 64th percentile.
Not to mention, he’s registered 13 walks compared to his 14 strikeouts, earning him a 0.93 walk-to-strikeout ratio. That’s more than reasonable given he’s played less than 15 MLB contests.
Another noteworthy topic has been Suzuki’s defence, though, unlike his offence, it hasn’t been as advertised this month.
Over his 93.0 innings in right field, the corner outfielder has performed to a -2 DRS and a -1 OAA rating, resulting in his -1.1 Defensive WAR rating. But similar to his strikeout totals, this is an area where he should improve as the season continues.
In Japan, Suzuki was a five-time Gold Glove Award winner, collecting three straight trophies before departing for North America last winter. Upon arrival, he was expected to be a two-dimensional player, contributing both offensively and defensively.
So unless his defensive woes extend beyond this current stretch and into the summer months, there shouldn’t be any reason to worry about his fielding.
Heading into the season, the Cubs weren’t viewed as playoff contenders – and likely still aren’t – as they had just traded away all-stars Kris Bryant, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo the previous campaign. Having said that, they’ve quickly found themselves an emerging star in Suzuki.
With top prospects like Brennen Davis, Miguel Amaya, Caleb Kilian, Brailyn Marquez and others on the way, there seems to be plenty of optimism surrounding the franchise.
Even though Chicago probably won’t be postseason bound in ‘22, the future is certainly bright in the “Windy City.” Before too long, chances are they’ll be competitive in the NL Central once again, just as they were from 2015-2020.
In the meantime, Suzuki will look to build off his stellar start, one that could earn him a trip to this season’s All-Star Game, that’ll be held at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85