One Hundred from Arakawa

One Hundred

On July 1, Seiya Suzuki hit his 100th career home run. He has played all 618 of his major-league games for the Chicago Cubs — every one since his debut on April 7, 2022 — and the milestone took five seasons to reach.

Arakawa

Suzuki was born in Arakawa, Tokyo, on August 18, 1994. He started with the Arakawa Little team in the second grade and kept going through Arakawa Senior in junior high. His coach made him a custom iron bat, and Suzuki used it to hit golf balls — a smaller target to sharpen his focus and contact. He was the kind of kid who watched computer baseball games while wearing a real helmet, which made his father question his sanity.

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp drafted him in the second round in 2012, initially as a pitcher. He moved off the mound, became a position player, and by November 2021 Hiroshima posted him. The Cubs signed him on March 18, 2022, to a five-year, $85 million contract. He chose number 27 because of Mike Trout. He grew up inspired by Ichiro Suzuki.

Five Summers

He is 31 now, a right-handed outfielder listed at 5-foot-11 and 182 pounds. Across 2,317 at-bats, he has batted .269 with a .473 slugging percentage, driven in 349 runs, and hit 127 doubles. This season he has 17 home runs through 86 games.

In his first spring training with the Cubs, Suzuki walked into the weight room and found manager David Ross. He pointed at Ross's trail mix, asked if it had chocolate, then reached over and rubbed Ross's belly while repeating the word. Ross said later he was surprised how fast the newcomer felt at ease. Hitting coach Greg Brown watched Suzuki have his new teammates laughing within three minutes of walking in.

Suzuki is in his fifth season with the Cubs, an outfielder at 31, still wearing number 27.

Reporting: Wikipedia, Piece of Japan, MLB Trade Rumors, MLB.com, The Athletic. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.