The only thing old school about Seiya Suzuki is his work ethic, because the strong-armed, hard-hitting Hiroshima Carp outfielder is not in the habit of conforming to tradition for the sake of it.
"I am continually trying to master new things. Because if I don't succeed, they're going to fire me," Suzuki told Kyodo News in a recent interview. "Baseball is a game of numbers, but you are competing against human beings, so you can never let up. You have to constantly improve."
That may be, but baseball is also a cultural conduit in which players are expected to uphold traditions, and those who go against the grain can face various kinds of resistance from the establishment. Yet, Suzuki said he was taught in high school that simply conforming is not the same as growing and succeeding.