A few weeks ago, I chatted with a friend when I was watching a spring training game and a Japanese player had a hit in that game. In Japan, the Central League is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute the NPB. In the MLB, three Japanese players each played for a team in the NL Central in the 2022 spring training.
However, Shogo Akiyama was released after hitting .182/.182/.182 over 7 games in the 2022 spring training. Akiyama batted .224/.320/.274 over the last two seasons with the Reds. He hasn’t crushed a home run in the majors yet. Akiyama didn’t have a good spring. Nonetheless, Seiya Suzuki and Yoshi Tsutsugo each showed some power in spring training. Seiya Suzuki was hitting .235/.350/.588 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI in 7 spring training games. Additionally, Yoshi Tsutsugo slashed .333/.467/.583 with 1 home run and 3 RBI in 10 spring training games.
Now, it’s been around 3 weeks since the Opening Day. Let’s see whether these two players make huge impacts in the NL Central.
Seiya Suzuki has been hitting well so far in his first season in the big league. He slashes .354/.492/.688 with 4 home runs and 13 RBI in 16 games. His OPS of 1.180 currently ranks 1st in the majors. Additionally, Seiya Suzuki already drew 13 walks, tying 3rd most in the majors. Seiya Suzuki definitely has a great start in his first season in the majors. And, he was named the NL player of the week. If he stays healthy, we will probably see another Suzuki win the Rookie of the Year award.
However, Yoshi Tsutsugo hasn’t been hitting as well as he did in the Pirates uniform last year. Tsutsugo was released by the Dodgers last August and then, he signed a major league contract with the Pirates. He hit .268/.347/.535 with 8 home runs and 25 RBI in 43 games with the Pirates in 2021. Nonetheless, by far this season, Tsutsugo only bats .191/.293/.213 and he’s still looking for his first home run of the season.
Before arriving in America, Yoshi Tsutsugo and Seiya Suzuki were two great hitters in the Central League of the NPB. Tsutsugo played for Yokohama DeNA BayStars from 2010 to 2019. In these 10 seasons, he batted .285/.382/.528 with 205 home runs and 613 RBI. In particular, he crushed 44 home runs in 2016 and blasted 38 home runs in 2018. Seiya Suzuki played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 2013 to 2021. In these 9 years, Suzuki slashed .315/.414/.570 with 182 home runs and 562 RBI. If we only look at their slash lines in NPB, it seems that Seiya Suzuki might be a better hitter. By far in the 2022 season, Seiya Suzuki’s performance in the Cubs uniform is surely impressive. However, after a resurgent performance with the Pirates last year, Tsutsugo might still have to prove he can do that again.
Now, two hitters from the NPB Central League compete in the NL Central. One has a hot start and the other might still need some time to heat up. They each used to crush 30+ home runs in a single season in Japan and it will be interesting to see who will do it in the majors.
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