Chicago Cubs News: Seiya Suzuki nearing return from IL stint

The Chicago Cubs have seen some concerning trends in right field to begin the season. Fans are already calling for the Cubs to designate Miles Mastrobuoni for assignment with the misplay that he had in Saturday's loss being the primary piece of evidence and Trey Mancini did not look all that comfortable in the outfield during Monday's loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

Of course, the Cubs are workshopping the right field position as they wait for Seiya Suzuki to return from the oblique injury he suffered at the beginning of Spring Training. In an update provided by the Cubs on Monday, Suzuki was able to have in-game at-bats for the first time since suffering the injury in February.

Suzuki's oblique injury has turned into a best-case scenario for the Cubs considering the position they initially feared when the injury occurred. There was a belief in Spring Training that Suzuki would not be close to returning by the time that Opening Day arrived and that was the reason where was an expectation at one point that the Cubs would carry an additional outfielder on the roster to begin the season. Suzuki's progress, however, towards the end of Spring Trainig made a backdated IL-stint possible and that is the reason why the Cubs were sending outfileder Mike Tauchmann to Triple-A Iowa instead of being forced to make a move to clear space on the 40-man roster.

The Cubs have insisted that Suzuki will not make his season debut until he is fully cleared from the injury, Oblique injuries have a tendency to linger so the Cubs want to make sure that when Suzuki does return to the Major League team, they are not put in a position where another IL-stint is needed after a week or two of games. Given that extended Spring Training games are taking place in Arizona, it does seem likely that Suzuki may forego a minor-league rehab assignment once he is ready to return.