Seiya Suzuki Looks Like He Could Use a Break, Too Bad Cubs Lack Capable Backup
The marathon slog of a 162-game season can be difficult on even the best players, whether mentally or physically, and there are times when getting a break can be far more beneficial than playing through it. That seems to have been the case for Kyle Tucker, who snapped out of his August funk in a big way against the Angels. His fractured hand had long since healed, but downstream issues led to him struggling with both his mechanics and his approach.
Craig Counsell was able to give his star right fielder three games off in two days without missing a beat thanks to the promotion of Owen Caissie, who has since gotten only three plate appearances in the last four games. All he did was go 1-for-3 with a double that registered 114 mph off the bat for the Cubs’ second-hardest-hit ball of the season. The hardest was a 116.2 mph rocket by Seiya Suzuki, who looks more than ready to cede his role to the Canadian rookie for a few games.
Suzuki has traditionally been at his best late in the season, averaging a 121 wRC+ in August and a 172 in September/October over the course of his career. He’s been at his worst in June, posting a 96 wRC+ across four seasons. But he’s also played the fewest games in June out of any full month, mainly due to a finger sprain suffered during his rookie season that kept him out for several weeks. He also missed the first half of April in 2023 due to an oblique strain and then sat for nearly a month across April and May with the same issue the following season.
Coincidentally enough, he was activated from the IL on April 14 of the former season and shelved on April 15 of the latter.
What I’m driving at here is that it’s possible, even likely, that Suzuki’s late-season surges have been a matter of early injuries preventing him from hitting the proverbial wall. That’s more hypothetical, but we do have evidence that giving him some time on the bench can be helpful even when he’s fully healthy. Following a stretch in late July and early August of 2023 in which Suzuki looked lost at the plate — similar to what we’ve seen from him lately — then-manager David Ross kept him out of the starting lineup for four games.
“I don’t feel bad at all during practice,” Suzuki said via his interpreter at the time. “But when I get into the game, I guess I get too eager to get those results. And so, to get those results, I feel like I need to relax a little bit more.”
Upon returning to the lineup on August 9, Suzuki finished the season slashing .356/.414/.672 with 11 homers and a 188 wRC+ over 198 plate appearances. That’s freakishly good. It’s also in stark contrast to his current results, particularly the fact that they’ve gotten worse every month. His batting average has dropped consistently, as has his overall output as measured by wRC+, putting him at .208 and 87 in those respective categories.
There is some underlying data to support a breakout, like a season-low 20.0% strikeout rate in August, but the complete lack of power is concerning. The eye test seems to indicate something similar to that stretch in 2023 when Ross said Suzuki was stuck “in-between” at the plate. You’d think that alone would be enough to spur Counsell to be a little more proactive, especially with a very capable replacement literally just sitting there, but maybe this is a continuation of the communication issues that cropped up last season.
“We both talked about it kind of at the end of the year, I’ll put it on myself, just doing a better job with talking to him,” Counsell told reporters early in spring training. “Sometimes the language barrier makes you lazy, unfortunately, and that’s on me, and I gotta get a little better at that and will. That’s something that I promised Seiya and will work hard to do.”
Kudos to the manager for owning it, but that’s a pretty serious issue for someone who touted himself more as a relationship guy than a tactician. It was supposed to be Counsell’s soft skills that allowed him to guide his teams, not just his analytical acuity. In this case, I don’t think I’m alone in questioning his application of either aspect. As easy as it is to criticize from a distance, not giving Suzuki a little time off while also keeping Caissie confined to the bench seems like a serious misstep.
What’s more, Suzuki’s downturn in August has been the result of poor performance against right-handed pitching. He was far worse than this against lefties in June, though, so take that for what it’s worth. Still, it sets up as a perfect time for the Cubs to do what they did with Tucker by creating a chance to step back and get out of his own head.
Or, you know, they could let Big Red do the sitting so he can be ready for those occasional pinch-hit opportunities.
Ed. note: I’d also like to see Counsell get a little more animated in response to some of the egregiously bad calls Suzuki seems to get with greater frequency than just about anyone else. Part of me wonders at times whether that’s part and parcel with the communication issues, though it’s almost certainly just a case of Counsell’s demeanor not lending itself to performative displays.
And for those who will say Ian Happ should be the one on the bench, he’s been better than Suzuki in August by a fairly good margin. That said, Caissie can play left as well as DH.
