The Chicago Cubs placed star outfielder Seiya Suzuki on the injured list Monday with a right oblique strain. It’s the second consecutive season in which Suzuki has been felled by the same injury; he strained his left oblique in March 2023.

Suzuki, 29, was hitting .305 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in his first 15 games of the season. In addition to his standard batting statistics, Suzuki ranked in the 97th percentile in MLB this season with a 94.7 mph average exit velocity, according to Statcast.

Only he and first baseman Michael Busch were the bright spots in a Cubs lineup that entered the season with aspirations of winning the National League Central.

The Cubs are 9-6, good for third place in a surprisingly competitive division, going into tonight’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.

Suzuki batted .285 last year with 20 home runs and 74 RBIs as the Cubs battled until the final week of the season before ultimately falling short of a playoff berth.

As a rookie in 2022, Suzuki hit .262 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs in 111 games for a Cubs team that had yet to emerge from a protracted rebuild.

Now, as one of the key pieces on an aspiring playoff team, Suzuki will have to watch from the sidelines as the Cubs forge on without him. Oblique injuries are notoriously difficult to prognosticate, making it unclear exactly how long Suzuki will need to be on the injured list before he can return to Chicago’s lineup.

For what it’s worth, Suzuki spent 19 days on the injured list last year nursing his strained left oblique before he was activated from the injured list.

With Suzuki out, the Cubs recalled outfielder Alexander Canario from Triple-A Iowa. The 23-year-old had a cup of coffee in the major leagues last season, appearing in six games. In 61 plate appearances at Triple-A this year, Canario has a .269 batting average, .377 on-base percentage and .481 slugging percentage.

Canario showed an improved walk rate in spring training, leading to a .349 Cactus League on-base percentage. Other than his 3-for-3 line in stolen base attempts, there was little reason for the Cubs to keep him on their major league roster once the regular season began.

At Triple-A, Canario kept up his impressive walk rate (13.1 percent) while striking out at an improved 24.6 percent clip.

Besides Canario, veterans Ian Happ and Mike Tauchmann are also in line to flank center fielder Cody Bellinger in the Cubs’ outfield with Suzuki absent.