"We absolutely can't get him in round four": the Hiroshima scout who pushed a pitcher with no Koshien record over a tournament star

Seiya Suzuki never played at Koshien. At Nishogakusha Daifu in Tokyo he was the ace and cleanup hitter, with numbers that differ slightly by outlet: Baseball Channel gave a top speed of 147 km/h and 42 career home runs in 2016, and 148 km/h and 43 home runs in 2026. Coach Katsuhito Ichihara told the same outlet in 2016 that he always expected him to succeed as a position player, though he had enough to pitch from his first year.

Hiroshima's choice in 2012, as Hideaki Ujihara reconstructed it in Number Web in October 2020, was between two shortstop prospects. Fumiya Hojo of Kosei Gakuin had hit four home runs in a single Koshien and tied the career tournament RBI record at 29. Suzuki had no Koshien record, and there was talk he would become an infielder. Scout Yoshinori Ogata had marked him since the autumn of his first year and rated his potential above Hojo's.

Number's headline carries the line attached to Ogata's presentation to the club: "We absolutely can't get him in round four." The free part of the article does not give the full argument, and we found this detail only there. Hiroshima took Suzuki in the second round. Ogata told Ujihara that he later heard from Ichihara that TV crews from Hokkaido and Fukuoka had come to the school on draft day. He took it as a sign that other clubs were interested, and that Hiroshima had come close to losing him.

Hiroshima then gave him a new position. Former farm manager Junzo Uchida told Nikkan Gendai in 2022 that the club planned to develop him as a big shortstop, starting from basic footwork. Uchida said Suzuki was nearly ready as an outfielder, and that the infield time helped later. Sportiva's Masahiko Abe reported in 2018 that Ichihara remembered how hard he took losing, even in practice games.