OAKLAND — Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki had a planned rest day in the Cubs’ series finale against the A’s on Wednesday, his first since returning from the injured list last Friday. Patrick Wisdom replaced him in right field
“He didn’t have a really long rehab assignment, but we tried to get his legs under him,” manager David Ross said Tuesday, before Suzuki’s fifth game in a row. “He says he’s feeling good, so I’m going to trust him and lean on him, and we’ll try to give him a rest at some point. We’re also a little short in the outfield department. So this might be an area right now where we’ll stretch it a little bit. As long as he’s feeling good, I’m going to push the envelope.”
Suzuki has gone 7-for-20 (.350) to start the season. His first hit was a home run. In the Cubs’ 4-0 win Tuesday, he reached base in all five plate of his appearances, hitting two singles and drawing three walks.
“I don’t think I’m at my best in terms of how my at-bats are going,” Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “I tried to go in the box and sit on pitches, but I ended up chasing pitches outside, which means that I’m not doing very well. But I have a couple of adjustments that I need to make moving forward, and I just want to make sure I get better at-bats.”
Hitting coach Dustin Kelly had a much more enthusiastic evaluation of Suzuki’s start to the season after what amounted to a short spring training-like buildup on the injured list.
“It is as pretty of a swing as it gets,” Kelly said Wednesday morning. “The eye is incredible, he takes the right pitches, he’s swinging at the right pitches. And coming into that Dodger series he saw some really good sliders that he probably just hadn’t seen since spring training – you don’t always see those in Triple-A [on a rehab assignment]. So we knew that there was going to be a time of adjustment for his eyes.”
Kelly pointed to the pitches that were barely out of the strike zone that Suzuki laid off of on Tuesday, complimenting his discipline.
“And if you miss in the zone with him,” Kelly said, “he’s going to hit it hard because the swing is just so good.”
The Cubs’ next off day isn’t until next Monday. The team travels back to Chicago after Wednesday’s afternoon game, to open a four-game series Thursday against the Dodgers.
