Ready to Shine in the United States, a Star Waits in Japan
The New York Times
Seiya Suzuki can hit for average and power, and plays solid defense. The only thing slowing his arrival is the possibility of an M.L.B. lockout.
Seiya Suzuki is the only player in Nippon Professional Baseball history to homer the first time he stepped to the plate in five consecutive games.
If Suzuki, an outfielder for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp, signs with a Major League Baseball team this off-season, he could make his mark in another unusual way: as the only player from Japan to be allowed more than 30 calendar days to consummate a deal under the posting system, a mechanism by which N.P.B. players are dangled to M.L.B. teams ahead of their contractual right to jump freely.
Suzuki’s posting is the 34th since the system was created in 1998. It has resulted in 21 player transfers, including high-profile signings like Ichiro Suzuki with the Seattle Mariners in 2000 and Shohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017.
