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Chicago Cubs star Seiya Suzuki came to Major League Baseball in 2022 as one of the most coveted international free agents in all of baseball. Suzuki immediately established himself as a solid starter for the Cubs, hitting 14 home runs and knocking in 46 RBIs in just 111 games as a rookie. He’s since taken a jump in the years to follow, averaging 20.5 home runs and 73.5 RBIs over the 2023 and 2024 season.
This year, Suzuki joins Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong to form one of the league’s most formidable outfield trios. But earlier this week, Suzuki drew attention to himself for a reason that had little to do with baseball. The Japanese star turned up the Cubs’ batting practice with a samurai sword and proceeded to use it to slice several pitches clean in half.
Seiya Suzuki Samurai Sword Batting Practice Has Baseball Fans Divided
The video was most likely shot as part of promotion for next week’s Tokyo series where Suzuki and co. take on Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tokyo Dome. But it’s not the first time a Japanese superstar has used a sword as a training method.
Legendary Nippon Professional Baseball player Sadaharu Oh, who hit 868 home runs over the course of his career, used to use a katana and a piece of paper in order to hone his swing path.
Several fans questioned the authenticity of the Suzuki video. But the Cubs have not said whether or not it was real or staged and I, for one, choose to believe because what fun would it be otherwise?