San Diego Padres: Yu Darvish recruits Seiya Suzuki with Twitter caption

San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish recruits Seiya Suzuki with Twitter caption.

After a disappointing conclusion to their 2021 season, the San Diego Padres and their fans are hopeful for a much better result in 2022. Star pitcher Yu Darvish, who joined the team last year with some mostly mediocre results, is one of the players on the campaign trail.

His previous experience playing in Japan could come in handy for the Padres in their pursuit of free agents like outfielder Seiya Suzuki. In fact, Darvish took a swing on Twitter with an image of the two together with a very simple caption.

Yu Darvish is hot on the campaign trail recruiting Seiya Suzuki to the Padres

The somewhat tongue-in-cheek tweet from Darvish will surely get Padres fans excited for the possibility of Suzuki coming across the Pacific and firmly planting himself in Southern California for the next number of years. However, it should be noted that perhaps this has less to do with baseball and more to do with Suzuki’s personal life. Nothing has been officially announced in regards to a “plus sign” on a test, but given the meaning of the word Padre, Spanish for father, we can come to a few conclusions outside of baseball.

On the more literal baseball side of things, the Padres have the building blocks to win it all. With Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado on the left side of the infield and a hopeful rebound from the entire starting pitching staff, Suzuki could be viewed as the next big piece for the ball club to add.

Suzuki is this offseason’s biggest international free agent. Desire to sign him reaches far and wide with every club from the big markets to the smaller ones showing interest. The Padres, who may not necessarily fall into the category of a major market, still have an advantage over many other clubs.

Aside from the chance to win, you can never discount the beautiful San Diego weather.

Suzuki fully intends to sign with a major league team before the season begins. With spots wide open on the roster to play either corner outfield spot or even play the DH role, it would make sense for him to end up calling San Diego home—possibly even being a two-time Padre beginning in 2022.