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player ready...Seiya Suzuki’s final at-bat Wednesday became his most memorable of the spring.
Suzuki was searching for his first hit since signing with the Chicago Cubs, working to make the necessary adjustments to get into an offensive rhythm.
Suzuki was 0-for-8 when he stepped to the plate in the fourth inning Wednesday against Seattle Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales. He quickly ended the hitless stretch, though it wasn’t a good start to the at-bat.
Suzuki flailed at Gonzales’ first-pitch changeup, attacking it too early. He took another changeup for an inside ball to even the count before resetting in the batter’s box. Then Suzuki’s timing was on point. He smacked Gonzales’ 87-mph fastball for a two-run homer to center field, putting the Cubs ahead in an eventual 8-5 win at Sloan Park.
“It felt really good to hit it in front of my home fans,” Suzuki said through interpreter Toy Matsushita. “They were cheering me on and it felt amazing. When I went back to the dugout, the coaches and teammates welcomed me and they were very, very happy as well. So it felt really good.”
Suzuki downplayed whether there was any relief at finally notching a hit, explaining there he doesn’t feel any pressure.
“When you play in games you want to have a good result, and the fact that I wasn’t able to get good hits in the past few games was just very unfortunate for me,” Suzuki said. “But today I was able to get a good result, so I’m very happy but the important thing is to continue and get better results in the next games.”
Suzuki continues to focus on his timing and pointed to getting used to pitchers’ motions being different than what he saw in Japan. The detailed information the Cubs can provide players should help, too, especially as he starts facing pitchers more than a time or two in the regular season. Suzuki plans to delve into scouting reports and utilize the information available to him.
“In Japan, we didn’t have this much data to look at,” Suzuki said. “I enjoy those new challenges and obviously just hope for better results from it.”
It’s not clear yet when Suzuki will play next. The Cubs are off Thursday and then have split-squad games, both on the road. Left-hander Drew Smyly was in the clubhouse after starting Wednesday’s game and missed Suzuki’s home run. But he’s already impressed by the right fielder.
“He’s got tremendous talent,” Smyly said. “He’s done everything he could over there, so it’s exciting to see someone with that pedigree in Japan to come over here and then showcase it. “I think he’s going to be really good.”