{"id":557154,"date":"2026-04-01T00:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557154\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:13:18","slug":"cubs-of-seiya-suzuki-nearing-return-from-knee-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557154\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs OF Seiya Suzuki nearing return from knee injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jesse RogersMar 31, 2026, 07:05 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.<\/p>\n

Multiple Authors<\/p>\n

CHICAGO — Cubs<\/a> right fielder Seiya Suzuki<\/a> is close to returning from a knee injury he suffered during the World Baseball Classic, according to manager Craig Counsell.<\/p>\n

Suzuki, 31, is eligible to come off the IL this weekend but will instead head to Double- or Triple-A to get some at-bats before being activated. The team is still deciding where he’ll do his rehab assignment based on weather reports for those respective teams.<\/p>\n

Suzuki passed several tests Tuesday, leading to his return to the field.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

“Today was really trying to put him through one last test and that included some stops\/starts, kind of unexpected moves on the bases,” Counsell said. “He did (some) sliding. So we’re in a really good space.”<\/p>\n

Suzuki has been out since mid-March after injuring his right knee on a stolen base attempt during the WBC quarterfinals against Venezuela. He was diagnosed with a minor posterior cruciate ligament strain and has been on the mend since. The team could play him at designated hitter but wants him fully recovered before bringing him back.<\/p>\n

“We’ll activate him when he’s ready to play right field,” Counsell said.<\/p>\n

Suzuki had a huge year in 2025 when he hit a career-high 32 home runs while driving in 103. His production helped the Cubs to the postseason for the first time since 2020. He’ll be a free agent at the end of this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jesse RogersMar 31, 2026, 07:05 PM ET CloseJesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-557154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}