Seiya Suzuki reported to spring training feeling motivated.
He had experienced some uncertainty about his position. Did his future center on being a designated hitter or playing right field? The Chicago Cubs remained invested in Suzuki being their everyday right fielder and created a plan for him to take his defense to another level.
Third-base coach Quintin Berry, who works with Cubs outfielders, took the same approach with Suzuki that he utilized last year with center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong
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. During spring training, Berry focused on the three pillars of outfield defense: reaction, burst and release time.“We do so much work there so that when we get in the game, you just maintain that,” Berry told the Tribune. “You always know what to go back to, and I think the visuals plus the practice really helps him get an understanding for how he wants to go about it, what it’s supposed to look like and constantly showing him that he’s doing so well.”
Berry focused on finding a comfortable pre-pitch routine with Suzuki that helped position him for a better first step and anticipation to create better routes. It has paid off tremendously.
Suzuki’s plus-3.8 feet versus average — which quantifies an outfielder’s route efficiency and speed — ranked fifth through Tuesday among the 91 qualified major-league outfielders. All four above Suzuki have played center field this year.
Meanwhile, Suzuki is posting career highs with his 2.1-second reaction time (previous high: 0.8 in 2024), 1.6-second burst (1.3 in 2023) and 37.5 feet of average coverage (35.6 in 2025). His reaction time is tied with Crow-Armstrong for 11th among all outfielders
Suzuki is getting to balls he rarely reached the previous four years, let alone made the catch. He has been so good at covering more ground that there have been plays he didn’t pull off that might have appeared to be one he should have caught, when in reality the ball might’ve had a 5% to 10% catch probability. Suzuki’s plus-3 fielding run value is tied for third among big-league right fielders.
“That’s his biggest thing is being able to slow the game down a little bit, so he’s doing a great job,” Berry said. “And it’s every single pitch he’s ready, every single pitch, our whole team. That’s why we play so well together.
“But it’s a commitment. I always say that when everybody asks me about this between Pete and Seiya: You have to be committed to doing every single pitch. You might get one shot all game, you can’t miss it.
“He’s doing an unbelievable job. I’m not going to stop with him. I’m going to motivate him, keep talking about it and keep bringing it up because he’s a top-tier outfielder.”
Last year’s roster construction limited Suzuki to 32 games in right field, where Kyle Tucker got the bulk of the playing time. Most of his starts in right came when Tucker was on the injured list in September and the postseason.
Suzuki clearly wanted to be playing in the outfield daily, and manager Craig Counsell noted last week how the 31-year-old has taken to the challenge of becoming a really good defensive right fielder.
“The best right field he’s played, at least since I’ve been here, for sure,” Counsell said. “He’s playing at a really high level out there. He’s hitting some long runs, he’s had some encounters with the wall, some dives. He made a play last (Wednesday in Pittsburgh) that was sneaky really, really good. He’s doing a nice job out there.”
Suzuki said this is the most confident he has felt defensively as a Cub.
“I haven’t been hitting well, so my focus has been if I can’t hit to help the team, at least I need to be good on defense,” he said recently through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “I was able to turn the switch on there. My body’s feeling really good when I’m out there, and right now my defense has been feeling overall very good.
“I have a good image of what I want to do on defense, and I’m able to do that right now.”