Over 7 billion yen in total! The “whispered concerns” of Seiya Suzuki, who is highly praised by the majors. | FRIDAY DIGITAL

Over 7 billion yen in total! The “whispered concerns” of Seiya Suzuki, who is highly praised by the majors.

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Mrs. Airi (right) says that she and Suzuki have been present at remote negotiations with major league teams. Photo taken in July 2007, just before joining the team.

With the exception of Shohei Ohtani, it’s been a long time since we’ve had a hitter of this caliber from Japan.

On January 5, “I’m still in the market. FA Top Players The top 10 FA players remaining on the market. It’s been a long time since we’ve had hitters of this caliber from Japan. CBS Sports” announced the top 10 FA players in the U.S., including Seiya Suzuki (27), who is aiming to move to the majors by posting from Hiroshima. 27 The media praised Seiya Suzuki (27), who is aiming to move to the majors by posting from Hiroshima. According to the media, he is one of the top 10 undrafted free agents in the world. Suzuki ranks 6th out of 10. Suzuki ranks 6th out of the top 10 unsigned players. He is expected to sign a four-year contract worth over 7 billion yen. He is expected to sign a four-year contract worth over 7 billion yen.

He is expected to sign a four-year contract worth over 7 billion yen.

I wonder if it’s appropriate to give such a high rating to a player who has never played a single game in the majors, no matter how good he is in Japan. Suzuki is No. 6, but No. 7 is Clayton Kershaw, who has won three Cy Young Awards, five Defensive Player of the Year awards, and three Most Wins awards. He has won the Golden Glove Award four times and has the highest home run total of 251 In ninth place is Anthony Rizzo, a four-time Golden Glove winner with 251 total home runs. It’s not surprising that being better than the best players in the majors is considered overrated,” said a writer in the United States.

The background is that this season’s MVP In the background, there is the influence of the player who won the MVP award this season.

Shohei Ohtani. In the majors, Japanese fielders were not highly regarded unless they could hit long balls. But Ohtani has the second highest number of hits in both leagues this season. 46 But Ohtani hit 46 home runs this season, the second most in both leagues, and suddenly the stock of Japanese hitters went up. Every year 30 But Suzuki, who hits around 30 home runs every year, is thought to be good enough to play cleanup in the majors.

There is no great success among right-handed hitters.

I’m not sure if Suzuki will be able to perform as well as his reputation in the majors. There are many reasons for concern.

The first is that he is a right-handed hitter. All the fielders who have been active in the majors, such as Otani, Hideki Matsui and Ichiro, are left-handed hitters. There are no Japanese right-handed hitters who have done well enough to satisfy everyone. Both Norihito Iguchi and Kenji Johjima have underachieved in the majors, considering their achievements in Japan. Suzuki, a right-handed hitter, may not be so easy to hit either.

The key is to deal with moving fastballs. Many Japanese hitters have a hard time dealing with the stiff fastballs of major league pitchers that move in their hands. Even Otani took a while to get used to it. It remains to be seen if Suzuki will be able to adjust quickly.

It is a characteristic of the major leagues that the more highly regarded a player is, the more harsh the criticism becomes when he fails to produce results. The Yankees, Red Sox, and other popular teams in the big cities, who are said to be open to acquiring Suzuki, will likely add to this trend. Here, too, there is a matter that raises concerns.

Suzuki speaks very little English. Matsui and Ohtani tried to communicate with their leaders and colleagues in English as much as possible, and even when they were in a slump, they were looked at warmly within the team.

If you can’t speak English, there is a risk that you will be left out in the cold. It’s even worse when you get a high evaluation but when you open the lid, you find that you are completely useless. Suzuki, for better or worse, has a simple and serious personality. I hope he doesn’t isolate himself from the rest of the players in the U.S., where jokes are made to lower the barriers between them. …… I hope he doesn’t isolate himself from the circle of players in the U.S.” (Ibid.)

This is too high a rating before the contract. I hope there is no gap with reality.

  • Photo by Takahiro Kagawa

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