Suzuki comfortable with challenge of DHing for Cubs

This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Not everyone is cut out for designated hitter duties. The role sounds simple enough on the surface -- the only requirement is to focus on hitting -- but there is a mental challenge associated with the job that can result in information overload or leave a player feeling stir crazy.

Count Cody Bellinger among the players who prefer to avoid that offense-only assignment.

“He got a little sick of DHing,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said recently. “He just doesn't like doing it.”

That led Counsell to lean on outfielder Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs’ regular DH dating back to Aug. 16. Since that point in the season, Suzuki has played in 30 games, appearing in the lineup as the DH 29 times and once in right field. Over the past month, Bellinger has garnered the bulk of the innings in right field, following a roughly two-week run as the DH due to a left hand injury.

The reasoning is not simply due to Bellinger’s preference to be in the field between plate appearances. Having Bellinger in right, rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Ian Happ in left also gives Chicago its optimal defensive alignment. Happ is a two-time Gold Glove winner, Crow-Armstrong likely has hardware in his future and Bellinger was a Gold Glove recipient as a right fielder in 2019 with the Dodgers.

It helps that Suzuki has handled the challenge that comes with DH duties with no issues.

“It’s a little tougher to leave that at-bat,” Counsell said of the downtime between plate appearances as a DH. “You spend maybe 45 minutes just thinking about, ‘What’s the first pitch coming to me my next at-bat?’ And that can get a little daunting. It sounds silly, but it can get a little daunting.

“I think Seiya’s done a good job with it. I think he’s comfortable with that and can turn it off, so to speak.”

In the past 30 games, Suzuki has slashed .314/.416/.479 with four home runs, six doubles, one triple, 13 RBIs and 21 walks while serving primarily as the DH for Chicago. Prior to that stretch, the outfielder had a .266/.338/.476 slash line on the season. Suzuki has seen his overall OPS bump up to .834 from .814 thanks to this recent stretch.

Knowing that Suzuki can handle the DH role could help the Cubs’ planning for building the 2025 roster. Both Happ and Crow-Armstrong are under control next season, but Chicago will be waiting to learn if Bellinger elects to stay or opt out of his current deal in favor of free agency. If the Cubs are going to try to add an impact hitter, corner outfield and DH offer the best avenue.

One thing the Cubs have to monitor is how much extra time Suzuki spends taking swings in the cage between trips to the plate, but hitting coach Dustin Kelly said the outfielder has stuck to a routine. He had already taken steps, beginning last season, to make his drill work more efficient in the cage, helping the transition to DHing.

“He's done a really good job this year,” Kelly said. “He started to embrace the fact that he gets his at-bat, and then he doesn't have to think about his at-bat for the next two or three innings until he gets his next one. He's able to kind of decompress. He'll go in and watch the video, hang out in the dugout for a little bit, and then start to head back to get loose again.

“It's nothing mechanical. He's not trying to really change anything. It's just, get the body loose and then come back out here and have another at-bat.”