Suzuki Demoted in Chicago Cubs lineup, Time to Worry?

Seiya Suzuki has been demoted in the Chicago Cubs lineup following his recent poor play.

It's no secret. The Chicago Cubs are red hot right now and are all in going for the playoffs. They've gone 12-3 over their last 13 games and have only lost six games since coming back from the All-Star break.

Everything seems to be going well for the Cubs.

Everything except Seiya Suzuki continuing to struggle.

After sitting out the second game in their series against the Cincinnati Reds, Suzuki was demoted from his usual second spot in the lineup, down to seventh.

The right fielder is hitting a slash line of .148/.250/.333 over his last seven games. While a week is a small sample size in baseball, in his last 30 games he's hit .220/.288/.339.

That's compared to his career numbers of .257/.334/.415 in 731 major league at bats.

There's no question Suzuki is struggling right now. So, manager David Ross decided to give him the day off and move him down in the lineup.

We'll see if this demotion actually can get the Japanese phenom back on track.

Out of the seventh hole on Wednesday, the outfielder went 2-5 with a home run and 2 RBI in his return to the batting order. That was his second homer in his last seven games and the third in the last 30.

As Chicago pushes for the playoffs, they're going to need Suzuki to start hitting to his career averages. The hot bats have pushed the Cubs three games back in the division and 2-and-a-half back of the Wild Card.

Maybe the demotion in the lineup is what Suzuki needs to return to form and starting producing at the plate again.