MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Seiya Suzuki is working on his communication with Craig Counsel, and the manager says it’s his fault.
Suzuki joined the rest of the Chicago Cubs for their first full-squad workout of spring training on Friday. While looking forward to the team’s trip to his native Japan and his fourth season in the majors, the slugger also looked back at what he felt could have gone better a year ago.
Specifically, his relationship with Counsel in their first season together.
“I feel like last year, we could have had better communication,” Suzuki said through a translator. “So going into this year, I feel like we’re improving upon that, and then making it better during the season.”
Counsel, 54, was hired by Chicago in November 2023, and Suzuki, 30, attributed some of the communication issues to learning more about his new manager. But Counsel blamed himself for what happened.
“We both talked about it kind of at the end of the year,” Counsel said. “I’ll put it on myself, just doing a better job with talking to him. The language barrier makes you lazy, unfortunately. That’s on me, and I got to get a little better at that, and will. That’s something that I promised Seiya, and will work hard to do.”
