Cubs’ Suzuki to make season debut vs. Pirates after WBC injury

CHICAGO — Cubs proper fielder Seiya Suzuki will make his season debut on Friday in opposition to the Pittsburgh Pirates after recovering from a knee injury suffered during the WBCthe crew introduced earlier than the sport.

Suzuki, 31, had profession highs in residence runs (32) and runs pushed in (103) final season, serving to the Cubs to the postseason for the primary time since 2020. He was injured final month on a stolen base try whereas enjoying for Team Japan, main to an early keep on the injured listing.

“We’re putting one of our middle of the order bats back in the lineup,” supervisor Craig Counsell stated Friday morning. “It’s a big addition, for sure.”

Suzuki is within the closing 12 months of a five-year, $85 million contract by which he has alternated between proper area and DH. He’ll begin in proper on Friday however the crew will probably be “somewhat cautious” with him coming off the knee injury, in accordance to Counsell.

The crew designated outfielder Dylan Carlson for task to make room for Suzuki on the roster. Carlson had solely 4 at-bats over the primary two weeks and misplaced out in a contest with Michael Conforto for that roster spot.

The Cubs additionally referred to as up righty Ethan Roberts from Triple-A after putting reliever Phil Maton on the injured listing with proper knee tendinitis. Maton didn’t look sharp over his first few appearances, partly, due to the knee subject.

“It’s gradually getting worse,” Counsell stated. “We saw real effects from it in his last outing in Tampa. His velocity was down. It was just a case of not being able to sit into his back leg and drive off the mound.”

Maton gave up six runs over 4 innings earlier than happening. He joins starter Cade Horton on the injured listing because the latter awaits surgical procedure on his elbow. The process will decide the size of his restoration which may very well be between 12-15 months.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer stated Friday he has no regrets on how they used Horton because the crew took a conservative strategy with him – though he nonetheless bought harm. Horton threw solely 118 innings final season.

“We were really careful with his pitch counts,” Hoyer stated. “We didn’t push him.”

That conservative strategy applies to Horton’s whole profession as a Cub. This will probably be his second operation on his elbow after present process Tommy John surgical procedure in 2021.

“You have to play, you have to pitch,” Hoyer stated. “When I look back, I don’t have any regrets on how we handled him because we were so conservative. And he broke down. That’s the nature of pitching in 2026.”

Despite Horton’s loss, Cubs’ starters have the bottom ERA within the NL with righties Javier Assad and Colin Rea performing nicely in wins in opposition to the Rays earlier this week. Neither was within the rotation on Opening Day.

“This is why you have pitching depth,” Hoyer stated.

Hoyer indicated the crew is all the time contemplating exterior choices however stated it is “not top of mind” proper now.