PITTSBURGH — How good was Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki during his career in Japan’s top baseball league? So good, he debuted at 19. So good, he was a five-time All-Star. So good, he was named an all-league first-teamer six times. Have we mentioned the pair of batting titles and the five Gold Gloves?
This is some career we’re talking about. Suzuki also — as you know — played for the Cubs all of last season and, at 28, clearly has been around the block. He hasn’t been in the major leagues for long, but does he feel more like a young pup or an old pro?
“A rookie,” he said through translator Toy Matsushita. “I’m still trying to learn. It’s my second year, but I’m still a rookie.”
As Suzuki explains it, he has too much yet to learn from teammates who have won World Series rings to view himself as anything more than that. But one thing nobody has to teach him is how to hit the ball with authority. Though he has hit into some hard luck lately, the 92.7 mph average exit velocity he brought into Tuesday night topped the Cubs and, according to Baseball Savant, ranked in the 93rd percentile across the majors. Suzuki’s 52.8% hard-hit rate was way up there, too.
In his second at-bat against Pirates starter Johan Oviedo, Suzuki lined the ball into shallow center only to see Jack Suwinski make a lunging catch. His next time up, Oviedo redirected a well-stung hopper up the middle that went for an infield hit after shortstop Tucupita Marcano couldn’t corral it. Suzuki ended the night with an RBI on a sacrifice fly that was reviewed and reversed after an initial out call at the plate.
Suzuki admits he’s “a little conscious” that his recent stats don’t look like much given the contact he’s making.
“But there’s nothing really I can do about that because it’s just part of the game,” he said. “I do feel like I’m having really good at-bats, and I think that’s the most important thing.”
Next to winning, that is.
“I think we have a really good team this year,” he said. “We have a lot of veterans and veterans who have won championships. When things aren’t going real well for us, there are a lot of guys trying to pick us back up again.”
Star turndowns
The latest All-Star voting update came Tuesday, and let’s just say there’s a whole lot of nothing happening for Cubs position players.
Dansby Swanson ranked seventh among National League shortstops, Cody Bellinger and Suzuki were 10th and 11th, respectively among outfielders. Christopher Morel was fifth in the designated-hitter category. Yan Gomes was eighth at catcher and Patrick Wisdom eighth at third base — and Trey Mancini fifth at first base, oddly enough — but there wouldn’t seem to be hope for any of them with the conceivable exception of Swanson, whose overall WAR makes him a standout.
“Dansby’s probably the first one that comes to the top of my brain,” manager David Ross said.
Heuer hurt
Reliever Codi Heuer appeared to suffer a setback in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, leaving the game at Triple-A Iowa in clear discomfort.
