Weight and power are closely related. Typical home run hitters have a confident, muscular body without exception. Even if the bat speed is fast and the contact is good, it is difficult to produce a home run if the strength is not supported. Shohei Ohtani (29), who shook the major leagues as a pitcher and hitter for the past two years, increased his home runs significantly after gaining weight and building muscles. ‘Hitter’ Ohtani recorded 46 homers and 100 RBIs in 2021 and 34 homers and 95 RBIs in 2022.
Outfielder Seiya Suzuki (29, Chicago Cubs), the main hitter of the Japanese national team, increased his weight to improve his long hitting power. He gained 9 kg in weight from before, becoming 1m80 and 103kg. It is said that he took care of nutrition during the off-season and remodeled his body through weight training. The weight has become similar to that of Ohtani, who is 1m93 tall.
In 2021, right before his break into the major leagues, he hit 38 homers with the Hiroshima Carps. He totaled 176 home runs and hit an average of 29.3 over the six years from 2016 to 2021. He moved over to the major leagues and his home runs were significantly reduced. He hit 14 home runs (batting average of 2.6 with 2 runs, 46 RBI) in 111 games and 446 plate appearances last year. 온라인바카라
Suzuki has been active as a key hitter for the Japanese national team in international competitions. He competed in the 2017 WBC, the 2019 Premier 12 and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This time, he is also the center hitter of the Japanese national team along with Munetaka Murakami (23, Yakult Swallows) and Masataka Yoshida (30, Boston Red Sox). It looks like the off-season weight gain will affect this event in some way.
Like Ohtani, it is likely that he will join the national team in early March after digesting his team’s spring camp schedule until the end of February. You can participate in this tournament by participating in the evaluation match against the Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes held at the Osaka Dome on March 6-7.
Not only the Japanese national team but also his team have high expectations from him.
Major League Baseball’s official site selected Suzuki as the “key player” of the Chicago Cubs to advance to the postseason this season. The site evaluated Suzuki’s good performance in his first year in the major leagues as he battled injuries. The Chicago Cubs recorded 74-88 last year and stayed in third place in the Central Division of the National League. The site predicted that Suzuki would hit 25 homers in his second year in the major leagues.