Will the time finally come to prove why he is "Japan's Trout"?

One of the best hitters in the Major League Baseball exhibition game was Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs.

Suzuki was a cleanup hitter who played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japanese professional baseball league and was also the fourth hitter for the Japanese national baseball team. In particular, he played in 132 games in 2021, with 38 home runs, 88 RBIs and nine steals, with a batting average of 317 percent, on-base percentage of 43 percent, a slugging percentage of 633 percent, and an OPS of 1.072. Suzuki, who made a strong impression as the fourth hitter for the Japanese national baseball team at the Tokyo Olympics that year, recorded a batting average of 315 percent, an on-base percentage of 414 percent, a slugging percentage of 575 percent, and an OPS of 980 percent in 902 professional baseball games. He signed an 85 million-dollar contract with the Cubs for five years and dreamed of entering the Major League.

According to his record in the Japanese pro baseball, he was nicknamed "Japanese trout." However, he was far from good at trout in the Major League.

Suzuki failed to reproduce his reputation as a Japanese professional baseball player in 111 games in 2022 with a batting average of 262, on-base percentage of 336, slugging percentage of 433 and OPS of 777 with 14 homers, 46 RBIs and 9 steals. However, last year, he played 138 games with a batting average of 285, on-base percentage of 357, slugging percentage of 485, and OPS of 842, as well as 20 homers, 74 RBIs, and six stolen bases. In particular, in the second half alone, he recorded a batting average of 333, on-base percentage of 302, slugging percentage of 506, OPS of 938 percent, 13 homers, 46 RBIs, and five stolen bases, showing that the batting feeling is getting hotter. In fact, he recorded a batting average of .32 percent, a on-base percentage of 36 percent, five homers and 13 RBIs in August, and since September, he has recorded a batting average of .37 percent, an on-base percentage of 434 percent, a slugging percentage of 685 percent, and an OPS of 1.120 with seven homers and 26 RBIs. Now that he has grown explosively, expectations for this season are bound to grow.

Having hit the jackpot at this year's exhibition game, Suzuki is poised to demonstrate his true value as a "Japanese trout." In this year's exhibition game, he recorded a batting average of 0.459 (17 hits in 37 times at bat), an on-base percentage of 0.512, a slugging percentage of 1.081, OPS 1.593, six homers, 12 RBIs and two steals. Although it was an exhibition game, he performed fairly well, ranking second in the home run category in the National League. He also played two games in which he hit multiple home runs.

CBS Sports, a U.S. sports media outlet, had time to predict what will happen to each major league club this season on the 28th (Korea time), and the Cubs drew attention with their predictions related to Suzuki. A bold prediction came out that "Suzuki will be the top five hitters in the National League."