Seiya Suzuki All-Star Snub Doesn't Make His First Half Less Meaningful

[Bryan Jaeger]

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

Seiya Suzuki is already posting career numbers in his fourth MLB season and is leading all of baseball in runs batted in. Still, for some reason, he was snubbed from making his first-ever All-Star appearance. The righty is hitting .263/.319/.561 to go along with 25 home runs, 48 runs, 77 runs knocked in, and an .880 OPS. 

The season is still a week away from the Midsummer Classic, but Suzuki's home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage, and OPS are already career highs. His hits (91) and doubles (22) are over halfway to setting additional career highs. One slight to the 30-year-old's season is the 102 strikeouts he has suffered, which is also more than halfway to another career high, though his strikeout rate (26.7%) is an improvement on the figure he posted in 2024 (27.4%).

In All-Star voting, Suzuki was deemed a designated hitter despite his 25 starts between left and right field this season. Seeing as the fans (rightly) voted in Shohei Ohtani as the starting DH in the National League, the snub in question comes in the form of a former Cub, as the players voted Kyle Schwarber as the reserve DH. Yes, the 11-year veteran is having a good season, but Suzuki has his number in a multitude of important categories.

Below is a breakdown of the two superstars:

 

Suzuki and Schwarber are closely producing, although Schwarber has 15 more plate appearances and four more games played. This is Schwarber's third All-Star appearance, but his first since 2022. He absolutely deserves the honor, but so does Suzuki — such is the reality of playing designated hitter in the same league as Shohei Ohtani.

There will, obviously, be further opportunities for Suzuki to make his maiden All-Star game. There's still a chance that a player could drop out, allowing Suzuki to make his Midsummer Classic debut this year. He's also just 30 years old and has one season remaining on his current deal with the Cubs. This snub is a disservice to his production, but it doesn't make it any less meaningful. As a fun reminder, Jake Arrieta won the NL Cy Young award a decade ago after being an All-Star snub.

Still, it's clear that Suzuki deserved his flowers for the ridiculous first half he's put together. Hopefully, he'll get his just due when awards season rolls around.

View full article