Suzuki reflects on the good times -- and a few 'what ifs' -- from 5 years with Cubs

CHICAGO -- The first time Seiya Suzuki headed into Sloan Park in Arizona for batting practice, he had a captive audience. There was a fascination over this power hitter the Cubs had signed out of Japan, and this was his first chance to display what all the hype was about.

The first thing onlookers saw was the calmness at the start of Suzuki’s swing. As his front leg lifts and compresses slowly, he pulls the handle of his bat back like an archer preparing to unleash an arrow. And then they saw the violence of the motion that followed, sending baseballs rocketing to the grassy berm that morning five springs ago.

“He’s got a beautiful swing,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell once said. “And he’s a strong man.”

For five seasons, Suzuki served as a real power threat in the heart of the Cubs’ lineup. It took time -- as he learned more about Major League pitching and figured out how to reduce his personal workload behind the scenes – but the outfielder became a favorite among fans and grew into a consistent performer in the batter’s box.

Now, Suzuki is poised to enter free agency following the final season under the five-year, $85 million contract he signed to join the Cubs from the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in March 2022. Not only that, but Suzuki will be one of the top batters available on the open market, along with Cubs left fielder Ian Happ.

After the Cubs were eliminated from the postseason, Suzuki was asked how he was processing that he may have played his final game with the ballclub.

“If we’re talking about all the good memories, it’s going to take about three hours. Is that OK?” Suzuki said via his interpreter, Edwin Stanberry. “My first time being in the U.S., it was with Chicago. Just being with the teammates, with the supportive staff, everybody around me that helped me, I enjoyed that. And also with playing at Wrigley, and the fans. They are so passionate. I was really hoping that we could go back to Wrigley and play in front of them.

“But there’s so many good memories. My family, they love Chicago. But with free agency, that’s something new for me. And I think there’s a lot of processes involved with that. So I’m not sure what’s going to happen.”

The logical step from the Cubs’ side of the table would be to offer Suzuki a one-year qualifying offer at the very least, which would secure Draft-pick compensation in the event he signed elsewhere. Given the landscape of the position-player market, Suzuki would likely turn that offer down in favor of seeking a longer-term deal.

At his end-of-season press conference, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer did not go into detail on Suzuki’s situation. Hoyer simply acknowledged that things could look different in 2027, given the volume of free agents the North Siders have both in terms of pitchers and hitters.

“We can’t retain everyone,” Hoyer said. “The team’s going to look and feel different next year. In a lot of ways, that’s a good thing. But I do want to emphasize that we have a lot of good players who are going to be free agents, and we’ll be in touch.”

Over the course of his five years with the Cubs, the 32-year-old Suzuki hit .269/.351/.472 with 113 homers, 142 doubles, 316 walks, 374 runs and 382 RBIs in 675 games. In that five-year span, he was one of only seven right-handed batters in the Majors to compile at least 110 homers, 140 doubles, 300 walks and 380 RBIs.

If Cubs fans felt like Suzuki seemed to get better as the season wore on, the numbers back that up. Here are his career slash lines for the final months of the regular season:

June: .245/.313/.450 (.763 OPS)
July: .263/.342/.464 (.806 OPS)
August: .279/.364/.473 (.837 OPS)
September-October: .295/.393/.508 (.901 OPS)

This past season, Suzuki hit .270 with 26 homers, 31 doubles, 86 RBIs and an .841 OPS, while drawing a career-high 81 walks. He also posted a +8 Fielding Run Value with +5 Outs Above Average, per Statcast, after being in the negative in both categories for his career heading into the ‘26 season.

A harsh self-evaluator, Suzuki felt he could have done more in his Cubs tenure.

“I don’t know if I was able to reach the expectations that people had,” Suzuki said. “I feel like each year, there was frustration at the end of the year. Just looking back at it, I felt like I did get better, I worked hard. I think the plus was this last year, my defense improved a lot. I feel like all that work I put in, that did help me improve.

“But just looking back, there’s a lot of what ifs, and, ‘Did I meet the expectations that people had about me and that I had about myself?’”