Inspired by Mike Trout, Cubs' Seiya Suzuki ready to begin MLB career
By Pedro Moura
FOX Sports MLB Writer
MESA, Ariz. — At his introductory news conference last week, new Chicago Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki drew laughs when he leaned into the microphone and addressed a message, in English, to a certain superstar.
"Mike Trout," he said, "I love you."
He was explaining why he chose to wear No. 27. But Suzuki’s revealed affection is more of an obsession, dating seven years, to when he was a 20-year-old utilityman for the NPB’s Hiroshima Toyo Carp.
After a successful MLB stint, local legend Hiroki Kuroda returned to Japan for a last hurrah with his longtime team. In spring training, Kuroda met Suzuki and showed him clips of the American league’s best hitters. Suzuki had never watched Major League Baseball, had never heard of Trout. But the first glimpses of him changed his life.
"I wanted to play like that. And that’s why, obviously, I’m here right now," Suzuki told FOX Sports. "When Kuroda showed me that video, I was like, ‘The way I think is too small. I need to think bigger. I need to try to become worldwide.'"
In that pursuit, Suzuki went to unusual lengths. He found a high-resolution photo of Trout and made it his iPhone lock screen. Every time he looked at his phone, it would remind him of what he wanted to be and how he remained deficient. Instead of just trying to become a starter, he said, he tried to become Trout.
"Whenever my motivation was decreasing a little bit, I’d think about Mike Trout," Suzuki said. "I would compare my body to his body and look and be like, ‘Oh, s---, I need to get bigger and bigger and bigger.'"
Suzuki stands only 5-foot-11, but he is muscle-bound and stout like Trout. In fact, one Cub who would know compared the two unprompted.
"Maybe not as linebacker-ish," said outfielder Michael Hermosillo, who shared clubhouses with Trout for parts of three seasons. "But very solid, broad shoulders."
Suzuki still wants to increase his body mass. The leg lift and short stroke within his swing are also reminiscent of Trout’s. He still wants to refine those, too.
What he has done so far has worked. Since the year after Kuroda opened his eyes, Suzuki averaged more than 29 home runs per NPB season, hit .300 or better every year, stole double-digit bases and logged a collective OPS over 1.000 — Trout-like statistics all.
"He’s the objective," Suzuki said.
Suzuki, 27, spoke through interpreter Toy Matsushita, 25, this week at Cubs camp. The young men are fun-loving and quick to laugh, a marked contrast from some recent NPB imports, who have tried to lower the spotlight trained on them by conducting bland, serious news conferences. Suzuki’s are anything but.
His American arrival lacks the fanfare of two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani’s, but he dominated NPB pitching to a greater extent than even Ohtani, and he chose to play in a major American market. If he hits anything like he did in Japan, he should become a star.
More than 50 reporters attended Suzuki's first news conference last week, dwarfing the attendance at Freddie Freeman’s, held across town the same day. In Suzuki’s first week of camp, roughly a dozen Japanese-language reporters have been covering him exclusively, tracking every pitch of his batting practice and waiting out hours of workouts to speak to him at the end of his day. He has welcomed the attention and, in the clubhouse, even utilized Matsushita to crack spontaneous jokes to his teammates.
"It just seems like Suzuki has a really good head on his shoulders and really handles that aspect really well, which I think leads to making that transition at least easier," said Hermosillo, also a former teammate of Ohtani’s. "I don’t want to put any extra pressure on him, but it just seems like he can handle transitioning from Japan to here by the way he’s able to handle all the other stuff.
"Especially with Japan, the cultural values can be very disciplined, so it’s cool to see Suzuki still disciplined but have that very joking manner. You just didn’t see that as much with Ohtani."
Suzuki’s transition was unprecedented. He was one week into the typical 30-day posting window when MLB owners instituted a lockout that would span 99 days. Throughout that time, Suzuki had no idea when he’d be permitted to sign with a team. When MLB and the players' association agreed on a new CBA, he resumed meeting with teams, with Opening Day one month away.
Some of the clubs that met with him were interested in him changing positions to the infield, as he was once a shortstop. But he preferred to play right field.
The Cubs plan to play him there every day. Because Chicago occupies the liminal space between rebuilding and contending, Suzuki made more sense than most free agents. Scouts expect that his 2023 could be better than his 2022, after he adjusts to major-league pitching.
He is also three years younger than Nick Castellanos, another free-agent outfielder who cost the Phillies $100 million, almost exactly as much as the Cubs are committing to pay Suzuki when counting his posting fee.
Suzuki referred again and again during the news conference to teams "hitting his heart" in their recruitment of him, none more than the Cubs. He did not expect to feel that way.
"I’m not an emotional person at all," he said. "Many people say, ‘Are you a human being?’ Because I never cry. But just in that moment, I guess, it really hit me."
He could recall crying only one time since high school: when he watched the American movie "Wonder" about a child with Treacher Collins syndrome who goes to school for the first time. He enthusiastically recommended a reporter watch the film.
That experience, he said, is the exception.
"I’m just not serious all the time," he said. "I love playing around."
That sense of humor should serve him and the Cubs well as they embark on an accelerated move toward contention. The front office speaks often of the "next great Cubs team." Their biggest bet this offseason is that Suzuki will be part of it.
His big bet, made seven years ago, has paid off. He made it to the major leagues. He could compete on the same field as Trout as soon as Thursday — in Cactus League action at Sloan Park.
Two weeks later, Opening Day awaits.
Pedro Moura is the national baseball writer for FOX Sports. He most recently covered the Dodgers for three seasons for The Athletic. Previously, he spent five years covering the Angels and Dodgers for the Orange County Register and L.A. Times. More previously, he covered his alma mater, USC, for ESPNLosAngeles.com. The son of Brazilian immigrants, he grew up in the Southern California suburbs. Follow him on Twitter @pedromoura.