The Chicago Cubs appeared to have a dilemma on their hands this past offseason with Seiya Suzuki.
The Japanese star was clearly unhappy about the team’s decision to make him their full-time designated hitter. Suzuki wasn’t happy when he was displaced from his right field gig in 2024 and he wasn’t happy with being displaced in 2025 either.
Amid public statements made by his agent, stating that he would not have signed with the Cubs if he knew he would be the team’s full-time DH, rumors began circulating that he was being shopped around and that the Cubs were looking for Suzuki to make some concession on the no trade clause in his contract.
With Drama Averted, Seiya Suzuki Has Thrived
Cooler heads prevailed, though, and the 30-year-old right-hander settled into his DH role and helped contribute to the Cubs’ stellar start to the 2025 campaign.
The former Hiroshima Toyo Carp all-star and Olympic gold medalist has cooled down substantially since posting a .321 batting average in the month of April, but he remains a valuable piece to the Cubs’ shockingly potent offense.
A casual look at his stats do not tell the full story of his contributions, though. Even sweeping aside his 11 home runs, which place him in the top 10 of the MLB home run leaderboard, and his 35 RBIs, which put him in the top 3 in all of baseball, there’s something more that makes him such an important piece to the team’s offense.
Suzuki is clutch. Big-time clutch.
Chicago Cubs’ Clutch Asset
With runners in scoring position, Suzuki is slashing .340/.418/.617 with a 186 wRC+ so far this season.
Evan Altman of Cubs Insider recently crunched the numbers and showcased the dichotomy that is Seiya in 2025– a hitter that is “meh” with nothing on the line and a verifiable superstar when it counts.
Per Altman:
“It’s wild how skewed the narrative is surrounding Suzuki, especially when his performance has run almost directly contrary to it. What if I told you he is slashing just .209/.253/.465 with the bases empty and .273/.345/.558 with men on? I’d say being 60-100 points better in those categories is a really good thing, especially when it matters more with runners on base.
Okay, sure, but he probably sucks with runners in scoring position. Right?
Well, not quite. When hitting with RISP, Suzuki is slashing .340/.418/.617 with a 186 wRC+ this season. That’s 36% higher than with runners on in general and 89 points better than with bases empty. Could he stand to be hitting a little better than .239 so far? Sure, but he’s hitting much better in situations that really call for it. A lot of y’all need to stop staring at individual trees so you can get a wider view of the forest.”
In recent games, Suzuki has been playing a solid left field, filling in for the injured Ian Happ. He’s also been struggling a bit at the plate, posting a feeble .145 batting average so far in the month of May. But, even as he’s floundered, he’s still producing. With only 8 hits registered in the month, he’s pretty much made everyone count, driving in 10 runs.
Under-Appreciated
Coming into this season, he had proven himself to be the Cubs’ most reliable hitter since signing with the team in 2022. He finished last year with a .283 batting average and a career-best 21 home runs. In the big picture, the under-appreciated offensive talent finished 2024 7th in the NL in OPS, right behind Freddie Freeman and Kyle Schwarber and above Francisco Lindor.
And it would appear that he’s being somewhat under-appreciated this year on his own team, as well, with Pete Crow-Armstrong, Kyle Tucker, and Carson Kelly getting most of the headlines for their offensive feats.
But when the chips are down and a run needs to be driven in, there are few you’d want at the plate more than Suzuki.
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