Nico Hoerner #2, Pete Crow-Armstrong #52 and Nick Madrigal #1 of the Chicago Cubs celebrate after defeating the Houston Astros at Wrigley Field on April 25, 2024, in Chicago.
Michael Reaves/Getty
The Cubs have battled a rash of injuries early in the season, but they improved to a 16-9 record with a 3-1 win Thursday against the cellar-dwelling Astros.
Even with two of their best hitters in Seiya Suzuki (strained right oblique) and Cody Bellinger (right rib fracture), two starting pitchers in Justin Steele (strained left hamstring) and Kyle Hendricks (strained low back), and two reliable relievers in Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) and Drew Smyly (right hip impingement) sidelined for most or all of the three-game series, the Cubs swept the Astros to kick off a stretch of 16 games in as many days.
A handful of those injured players have made good progress in their recoveries this week.
Suzuki went through agility drills before the game Thursday. Set up in the middle of a pattern of cones in left field, he drop-stepped and took off running, as if chasing down a fly ball.
“Seiya’s doing great,” Counsells said Wednesday.
Suzuki continued to run through baseball activities this week, including hitting – which he started Monday – and throwing, Counsell said. He’ll keep ramping up in this stage of his rehab through the Cubs’ week-long road trip to Boston and New York, which begins Friday.
“We should be in a pretty good place once we get through that road trip, in terms of starting to talk about going to play,” Counsell said.
Steele is still set to appear in extended spring game action Friday in Arizona. He is scheduled to throw about three innings, according to pitching coach Tommy Hottovy.
“Hopefully, we’re starting his five day rotation from this point on,” Hottovy said. “We obviously know we have some days where we can give him that flexibility, but it’ll be good to see him go out and compete and start facing some hitters again, get into some game-type atmosphere.”
Hendricks is targeting this weekend in Boston to throw off a mound, testing his back with “high-intent” throws. If he comes out of that session feeling good, the Cubs will start to plan out when he’ll go on a minor-league rehab assignment, Hottovy said.
“We don’t want to rush anything, number one,” Hottovy said. “But we also want to make sure we’re working on the things that he wants to work on, that we need to work on, to continue to help him progress as the season goes on.”