\u201cI want to see Pete throw a helmet,\u201d a grinning Suzuki said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry.<\/p>\n
And if Suzuki, who is expected to play center field for Japan, catches a fly ball off Crow-Armstrong\u2019s bat, he\u2019s already manifesting how it will play out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to catch it and dance on it,\u201d added a giddy Suzuki.<\/p>\n
An oblique strain forced Suzuki to pull out of the last WBC in 2023. Getting to play in the tournament next month has been a long time coming for Suzuki. The 31-year-old slugger is a key piece for Japan as they look to repeat as WBC champions.<\/p>\n
![\"Seiya](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ctc-l-cubs-spring-training-0216-77_259549206.jpg\")
Seiya Suzuki carries a medicine ball during the first day of the Cubs full-squad workout at spring training at Sloan Park on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, as a kid, that\u2019s something I\u2019ve always wanted, to play for Team Japan and it is something special,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019m looking forward to and that I can keep that experience going through, and learn a lot from that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suzuki came into spring training not feeling satisfied with his performance<\/a> last year. He experienced two extremes with his consistency. Going from a first-half All-Star Game snub<\/a> after putting up a .263 average and .867 OPS with 24 doubles, 25 home runs and 77 RBIs to a .213 average, .688 OPS, 26 RBIs, seven doubles and seven home runs \u2014 five of which came in the final four regular-season games \u2014 shows how dangerous Suzuki can be when he\u2019s locked in.<\/p>\n The Cubs need that version more frequently without such significant slumps in between. Despite the second-half struggles, Suzuki shined in his first MLB postseason, slugging three doubles and three home runs in eight games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt came with some really high highs and some really low lows,\u201d president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said of Suzuki\u2019s 2025 at the start of this year\u2019s camp. \u201cI was really happy for him in the way it ended. He was so dangerous for us at the end of the season and so dangerous in the postseason. That was something that was really important to him. He\u2019s a really, really good middle of the order hitter.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki isn\u2019t dwelling on how this could be his last season with the Cubs after signing a five-year, $85 million contract before the 2022 season.<\/p>\n \u201cSigning with the team, people expect something from me, I felt like haven\u2019t really reached those yet,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cSo I think I just need to continue to work on myself and make sure I can repay the team and the fans and just go out and have a good season.\u201d<\/p>\n Suzuki\u2019s underlying metrics, even through the prolonged slump, highlight why the Cubs are excited to see what 2026 brings. He produced the best Barrel%, a measure of the number of balls in play, of his career, featuring a 5.1 percentage point increase to 16.6%. He had\u00a0a higher average launch angle (17.9), which yielded more home runs with this typical line-drive swing path. Suzuki, though, wants to see his 78.1% contact rate increase \u2014 tied for 71st among 145 qualified MLB hitters in 2025 \u2014 while making sure he maintains a strong slugging percentage.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way the swing felt versus what I saw felt different, so just kind of making sure those two match up,\u201d Suzuki said.<\/p>\n Suzuki will gain familiarity, shifting back to right field following one season as the Cubs\u2019 primary designated hitter when Kyle Tucker took his spot in the field. At his best, Suzuki gives the Cubs a threat in the middle of their lineup capable of putting up 35-plus home runs and over 100 RBIs this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first year, despite enormous success in another league, you\u2019re new and then people are like \u2018show me\u2019 and you can\u2019t help but have \u2018show me\u2019 on written all over you, that\u2019s just how it\u2019s going to work, but I think Seiya would probably look at (2025) like I did \u2014 some things probably better than I\u2019ve ever done in the league and a really bad stretch too,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of all a learning experience in my eyes and a road to improvement that you use in Seiya\u2019s mind, \u2018I had the best season ever,\u2019 because he continues to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 The friendly trash talk has already started at Cubs camp. Eight players on the Cubs\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,5250,138,24,4245,161,4,105,4563,151,10315,4820],"class_list":{"0":"post-578403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-cubs","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cactus-league","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-cubs","12":"tag-chicagocubs","13":"tag-cubs","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-seiya-suzuki","16":"tag-sloan-park","17":"tag-spring-training","18":"tag-team-japan","19":"tag-world-baseball-classic"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116088928662130954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Seiya](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ctc-l-cubs-spring-training-0216-56_259547954_630cd4.jpg\")
Seiya Suzuki hits during batting practice during the first day of the Cubs full-squad workout at spring training at Sloan Park on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n