The Chicago Cubs were hopeful that outfielder Seiya Suzuki would provide some thunder to their lineup when they signed him to a five-year contract worth $85 million back in March. Suzuki had reached base five times in his first two regular season games, but he put an exclamation point on his first weekend in The Show on Sunday afternoon by launching home run No. 1 against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Suzuki came to bat in the bottom of the first inning with two on and two out. He worked a 3-1 count against Brewers right-hander Freddy Peralta before getting a hanging slider. Suzuki did not miss his chance to put the Cubs up by a 3-0 margin.
Observe with both ye eyes and ye ears:
According to Statcast, Suzuki's home run left the bat traveling at 110.9 mph. The estimated distance of the home run, meanwhile, was 412 feet. Statcast doesn't attempt to measure sound, but we're here to note that the correct classification for his quality of contact was loud.
Back in January, CBS Sports broke down Suzuki's ball-tracking data from his play last season in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league and identified comparable MLB talents. Here's a snippet of some of the players CBS Sports deemed similar:
It's an interesting group. You have the reigning National League Most Valuable Player Award recipient, in Bryce Harper; an all-world slugger, in Pete Alonso; a World Series champion coming off a breakout season, in Austin Riley; some one-time All-Stars, in Teoscar Hernández and Adolis García; and some otherwise unexpected names, including the bookend duo of Ji-Man Choi and Trevor Larnach.
How exactly Suzuki will fare over the years is to be seen. But there's no questioning his raw strength. His first home run put to bed any concerns about that.
