CHICAGO — Shohei Ohtani overshadows everyone else in Major League Baseball as the global superstar embroiled in a gambling scandal. Yoshinobu Yamamoto received the biggest contract ever for a pitcher before he even threw a pitch in The Show. The Los Angeles Dodgers descended upon Wrigley Field with those Japanese stars, making an April weekend feel more like an October atmosphere.
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In contrast, the Chicago Cubs signed Seiya Suzuki as part of a slower build after MLB’s lockout and the splintering of their 2016 World Series team. Suzuki chose a team that did not immediately have World Series-or-bust expectations, preferring to transition from Japan under a different spotlight. All along, both sides anticipated Suzuki’s game would improve at a rate that matched the team’s overall growth.
And then the Cubs benched Suzuki last August in the middle of a playoff chase.
Through those struggles, Suzuki rediscovered his identity and the Cubs targeted their weaknesses after missing the postseason by one game. The Cubs have the elements of a team with more staying power than star power: a solid pitching staff, Gold Glove defenders, a balanced offense, an elite manager, a top farm system and money to spend at the trade deadline. At the same time, Suzuki is approaching the galaxy of the game’s best hitters.
“There’s not a physical flaw,” Cubs outfielder Ian Happ said. “He has all the ability in the world. It’s just being mentally confident in how the at-bats play out.”
That trial-and-error process is at the stage where the Cubs expect Suzuki to have a monster season. The Cubs invested roughly $100 million in Suzuki’s future, including the posting fee to his Japanese club, an amount that signaled he should be playing in All-Star Games and getting MVP votes. It’s not too early to see Suzuki’s hot start as part of a learning curve he’s begun to master.
To face the Dodgers again in October, the Cubs will need players like Suzuki to maximize their potential over 162 games. Throw out Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Dodgers in front of 41,040 at Wrigley Field, where the press box was so crowded with reporters that the media dining room became an overflow work area. The Cubs weren’t going to go undefeated at the Friendly Confines this year, and their offense won’t score nine runs every time against pitchers as good as Yamamoto.
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But their ceiling is higher if Suzuki performs. Craig Counsell, the new Cubs manager, benefits from a decision made by the old Cubs manager, David Ross, who benched Suzuki in early August last season, giving him a chance to observe and reset. At the time, Suzuki looked somewhat dejected and too indecisive.
Suzuki posted a 61 wRC+ between June 2 and Aug. 7 last year, as The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma detailed, a steep drop below the weighted league average (100). Instead of sulking, Suzuki received the message and batted .356 over his final 47 games, slugging 11 home runs, 15 doubles and four triples. It was all about the mindset.
“A lot of it had to do with Seiya really starting to own who he is as a hitter,” Cubs hitting coach Dustin Kelly said during Suzuki’s strong finish last season. “It did take a little time for him to realize, ‘Who am I in the game? And who am I in this lineup?’
“There wasn’t a mechanical swing adjustment. There weren’t a lot of things that we talked about outside of being aggressive and getting your pitch to hit. It doesn’t matter what the count is or what the situation is. If it’s a pitch that you think you can drive in the middle of the field, you’re going to go ahead and take your ‘A’ swing.
“That freed him up a little bit. And obviously, success breeds confidence.”
Suzuki has picked up where he left off, going 10-for-32 with four walks and 11 RBIs through eight games this season. His breakthrough also involved working with the Cubs to develop a better nutrition program and a streamlined, less-is-more routine. He came from a Japanese baseball culture that stressed repetitions and extra work.
“Part of that was him figuring out exactly what move works at this level, how to cover different pitches,” Happ said. “It’s a different game. If a guy’s throwing a heater at 96-97 — and a cutter’s at 90-93 — that’s a different mix than one straight pitch and then the other offspeed pitches kind of blending in the low 80s.
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“There’s so much late movement, it’s figuring out what swing plays for that. It’s the thought process behind: ‘What do I have to be on time for? And what can I handle off that?’ You can see that he’s handling more pitches just because of the understanding of where to look and chasing less out of the zone.”
Happ is close enough to Suzuki that the two players and their wives gathered during Happ’s honeymoon in Japan over the offseason. Teammates respect Suzuki’s work ethic and recognize his immense talents.
“He’s got one of the best right-handed swings in the game,” Happ said. “Mechanically, he’s so pure. The way the ball comes off the bat, you can see the exit velocities. There’s a ton of strength there. It’s his ability to drive the ball to all parts of the field. And when he’s right — like right now — his swing decisions are so good. He doesn’t swing at bad pitches.”
Those attributes led Jed Hoyer’s front office to identify Suzuki as a core player and patiently work with him as his OPS jumped from .770 in his rookie year to .842 last season. Counsell observed Suzuki’s discipline and explosiveness while managing the Milwaukee Brewers. Counsell knows the numbers don’t lie.
“He’s playing at a really high level,” Counsell said. “This is what a lot of the underlying stuff showed he was capable of doing. How he’s gotten to this point, I’m a little less in the know, frankly. But my suspicion is it has a lot to do with there’s a transition to this league.
“It’s a tougher league. There’s better players here. There’s just more consistency, day in and day out. Every at-bat and every pitcher can provide serious challenges. And then there’s just a new culture that’s incredibly challenging. We want those transitions to happen immediately. They just don’t happen immediately for all of us.”
If Suzuki can launch home runs in April when the temperatures are hovering around freezing, imagine what he might do once the summer heats up in Wrigleyville. Probably not enough to make Cubs fans forget about Ohtani, but more than enough to keep the party going in the bleachers.
“You always have to be on your toes when you’re playing at this level,” Suzuki said through an interpreter. “It’s all about staying conscious of who you are and just being yourself.”
(Top photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
