The Chicago Cubs have signed Japanese pitcher Seiya Suzuki ahead of the 2022 season.
The club did not disclose the terms of the deal, but it is reportedly worth five years and $85 million (KRW103.9 billion at the time), plus posting fees.
The posting fee was $14.65 million ($17.87 billion at the time), making it a big deal worth $100 million ($12.22 billion at the time) in total.
Suzuki played 111 games last season, posting a .262/.336/.433 slash line with a wRC+ of 116. It was considered a solid season.
He got off to a fantastic start this season as well, slashing .293/0.385/0.487 in 174 plate appearances through the end of May.
However, Suzuki’s offense fell apart after that. Since June, he’s only managed a .214/0.281/0.310 slash line in 210 plate appearances. His wRC+ (96) has also fallen below league average.
According to MLBTR on July 7, Suzuki is not playing every day, even though he is playing excellent defense in right field.
Cubs manager David Ross said of Suzuki: “He knows he needs to work on some things. It’s hard to do that in the middle of a game. We’re going to give him time and when he feels like he can help us win games, he’ll come back.”안전놀이터
Suzuki has recently been pushed down in the batting order from the No. 2 spot to No. 7.
The Cubs are in a tight race for first place in the NL Central with the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds.