The Chicago Cubs will be without Seiya Suzuki for the immediate future after it was announced that he left Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a right wrist injury. After the game, Chicago Cubs Manager Craig Counsell said that Suzuki had sustained the injury a week prior but aggravated it against the defending World Series champions.
Suzuki, 30, has been used primarily as a DH in 2025 with the newly-acquired Kyle Tucker taking over in right field. Suzuki’s absence from the lineup isn’t expected to be long. Suzuki will not be put on the IL and should be able to return at some point this week. Justin Turner is slated to see more plate appearances as the DH until Suzuki returns.
Seiya Suzuki Is Out For the Chicago Cubs
Suzuki left Saturday night’s ball game for the Chicago Cubs against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning after aggravating a right wrist injury. The Japanese-born slugger suffered the injury a week ago against the Athletics while playing right field but stayed in the lineup up until now. Suzuki had been exclusively a DH since the initial injury. He now leaves the lineup to try and heal it completely.
The injury is not deemed serious and won’t land the 30-year-old Suzuki on the injured list according to Counsell, who said Monday when referring to the health status of Suzuki and Carson Kelly, “I guess the worst-case scenario to me would be they’d [Kelly and Suzuki] be available on Friday, but I think we’ll have them available this series.”
Without Suzuki in the lineup, Turner has been able to get more regular time as the designated hitter. That is expected to continue until Suzuki returns in a full-time DH capacity. Coming into 2025, Suzuki and his camp had made their feelings known about wanting to be in the lineup and play the field consistently. After this injury, which occurred while playing the field in a series against the Athletics, the Chicago Cubs will likely have an easier time penciling Suzuki in as the everyday DH.
So far this season, Suzuki is hitting .279 with a .356 OBP, .473 SLG, and .829 OPS in 65 at-bats across 17 games. He has paired those numbers with 4 home runs and 15 runs batted in, hitting third and clean-up mostly for the Chicago Cubs. If the North Siders want to continue their early-season success from the plate, getting Suzuki back as quickly as possible will be key. Luckily for them, it sounds like they dodged a bullet with this minor wrist injury.
Final Thoughts
I think the Chicago Cubs will be able to manage the absence of Suzuki, mainly because it’s almost assuredly a brief absence. The biggest takeaway from this injury is the ability of the Chicago Cubs front office and Counsell to point to this injury as evidence for why Suzuki should be a primary DH for this team. There had been much noise made in the offseason by Suzuki and his representation about their desires for Suzuki to remain in the field despite the addition of Tucker to the outfield.
Even if the Chicago Cubs suffer in the short term with one of their best sluggers out of the lineup, getting the question of Suzuki’s role on the team answered in early April will be valuable down the road. This wouldn’t be the case if Suzuki was headed to the IL but based on the comments made by Counsell, this will be a short break for Suzuki. I am more concerned with the injury news surrounding Justin Steele and how that situation will impact the pitching staff and the trade deadline for the 2025 Chicago Cubs.
