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Would Seiya Suzuki Be a Logical Fit for the Phillies?

Would it make sense for the Philadelphia Phillies to pursue Japanese phenom Seiya Suzuki?

Author:
Declan Harris
Nov 8, 2021 3:40 PM EST

The Hiroshima Carps plan to post Japanese star outfielder Seiya Suzuki for MLB teams to sign this offseason, per MLB.com's Jon Merosi. With the departures of Andrew McCutchen and Odúbel Herrera, would Suzuki be a logical fit for the Philadelphia Phillies?

Suzuki's 2021 season has been the highlight of his eight-year career, the 27-year old hit .317/.639/.433 while belting 38 home runs and driving in 88. Suzuki's .317 batting average is the second-highest in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league, while his slugging percentage, on-base percentage, home runs, and RBI totals lead both the Central and Pacific divisions within the NPB.

Beyond his accomplishments this season, Suzuki is quite the decorated veteran. He is a 3x Central League Golden Glove Award winner, 4x Best Nine Award winner (an award given to the best player in each position), 5x NPB All-Star, 1x Central League Batting Champion, and a one-time gold medalist at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and once in the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).

It's uncertain how the transition will be for Suzuki, but generally speaking, most former NPB players transition well to the style of play in MLB. Some recent examples would be Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Masahiro Tanaka, amongst others.

The risk that would come with signing Suzuki would be on President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia front office by determining how much they want to offer Suzuki and for how long.

Suzuki is still a fairly young player and is even younger than other candidates for the Phillies to look at such as Joc Pederson and Nick Castellanos. Suzuki has proven to be a younger, more offensively dominant player, consistently being a .300/.500/.400 hitter which is just what the Phillies are looking for in their lineup.

Suzuki's numbers and accomplishments in the NPB would make him the most logical pick out of all possible options.

As per the Japanese Posting System, the period for an NPB player to be posted is from Nov. 1 to Dec. 5. Following their posting date, MLB teams will have a maximum of 30 days to offer the player in question an offer. If there is no agreement made between the player and any club in the MLB, the player will be sent back to the NPB, and will not be allowed to be posted until the following next offseason.

For now, Philadelphia fans will have to wait for Suzuki's posting and see if the Phillies' front office makes a deal that would entice him.