Posted on 06/14/2016 8:34:30 AM PDT by Vigilanteman
SAN DIEGO -- The closer Ichiro Suzuki gets to milestones, the bigger his media following becomes. About 50 Japanese media members were on hand Monday to watch the 42-year-old sensation inch closer to another significant benchmark.
Ichiro had three hits, scored two runs and had an RBI in the Marlins' 13-4 win over the Padres at Petco Park. After he slapped a single down the third-base line in the eighth inning, he moved 23 hits shy of 3,000, and one away from matching a standard reached only by Pete Rose.
• Ichiro moves within 23 MLB hits of 3,000 as ... Ichiro watches from the stands?
Rose holds the Major League record of 4,256 hits. When you combine the 1,278 hits Ichiro had playing nine seasons in Japan for the Orix Blue Wave, Ichiro sits at 4,255 professional hits.
(Excerpt) Read more at m.marlins.mlb.com ...
All the while keeping low key . . .
Very cool. The Gray Man of baseball.
Just imagine if he could have played the nine seasons in MLB rather than in Japan. One of the great hitters in several generations.
He would have had an outside shot of passing Rose’s mark. But even with having played 9 seasons in Japan, he’s going to get 3000 hits in MLB. That’s 150 hits per year every year for 20 years, or 200 hits per year every year for 15.
An amazing player.
For example ...
Ichiro is closing in on 3,000 hits in a shortened MLB career. He has also led the league in total hits seven times (including a ridiculous total of 262 in 2004). But he only has two batting titles to his credit, and his career on-base percentage is a very pedestrian .357 -- especially for someone who hits so well.
This is because he really didn't walk very much and was almost always among the league leader in official at-bats. He has about 600 walks in his career, which is about six seasons worth of walks for a good leadoff hitter.
I am a big fan of Ichiro. The all time hit king in my book. And if you want to argue that the level of talent in Japan is lower (marginally), the baseball season there is about 10% shorter, so it is a bit of a wash.
Should never have left the Mariners...
Japanese players also get a lot more playing time because the rules over there limit foreign players to three on the roster and two on the field at any time. Plus they play through a lot of situations where our MLB teams would give them a day off.
Weather is another factor. Get more than a few raindrops and MLB calls for a rain delay while they roll out the tarp. In Japan, it takes enough of a downpour that it is physically unsafe to be out on the field. And the humidity for most of Japan is more comparable to Atlanta than any other MLB city.
I don’t think you can combine Japanese and American baseball, but I think it’s a great accomplishment that speaks to what a wonderful player Suzuki is, certainly far more deserving than Pete Rose.
What was so remarkable about Pete Rose was only the fact that he started played in the bigs 24 years.
He’s cool not only for his amazing talent and work ethic, but because he treats the game with so much respect.
Freegards
Something else that is pretty wild is that his longest hit streak is only 27 games and the Mariner’s franchise record.
Freegards
Ichiro's top season for walks was 68 in 2002, so not all that different from two top lead-off guys from another era. Careerwise, that is 6% of plate appearances, compared to 6.8% for Brock and 6.4% for Campaneris, a differential more than compensated by his .314 lifetime batting average (compared with .293 for Brock and .259 for Campaneris).
I think Suzuki himself once remarked that he could hit 40 homeruns in a season if he put his mind to it, but he would be lucky to break .230 in batting average if he did.
“it’s obvious that he was groomed to play a style of baseball that is almost unheard-of in MLB.”
Have you read, “You Gotta Have Wa,” or seen the Koshien high-school tournament?
Oh, dear - the article mentions Pete Rose.
Are we allowed to do that?
The man is an incredible hitting machine. I’ll be very happy to see him reach three thousand.
Just as an aside, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen is an outtake from an interview Ichiro gave where he said that ‘ Kansas City in August is hotter than two rats f***ing in a sweat sock’.
The man is an incredible hitting machine. I’ll be very happy to see him reach three thousand.
Just as an aside, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen is an outtake from an interview Ichiro gave where he said that ‘ Kansas City in August is hotter than two rats f***ing in a sweat sock’.
Since Japanese has so few swear words and those which it has are much milder than their English counterparts, I wonder if he picked that up from someone else on the team not fully understanding the shock value of the f*** word.
All good points, though I don’t think I’d consider Brock and Campaneris very good lead-off hitters by today’s standards. Neither one of them had a very impressive on-base percentage, and Brock in particular struck out a lot for a lead-off hitter. If they played today, I wonder if either one of them would be at the top of the batting order.
When Ichiro set the modern record with 262 hits in 2004, he led the league with an amazing .372 batting average. George Sisler, the guy whose long-standing record he broke, hit .407 when he set the previous record with 257 hits in 1920. With so few walks and sacrifice hits, a player like Ichiro simply had a lot of official at-bats.
Ichiro is no slouch in that category either, but his high of 56 in his rookie year has never been equaled by him since. Not that he couldn't do it, but just because they don't try for the stolen base that much in today's game.
Also, very interesting comparison you made to George Sisler. I'd have to look it up, but I think Ichiro's batting average that year is probably the best in three decades, since George Brett briefly flirted with .400 before finishing at .390.
As an aside, we lived in Kobe when Ichiro was at his peak with the Blue Wave of Japan baseball. As good as his numbers were then, what he produced after coming to the United States was even better. That's just one more reason I think the level of play in Japan is much closer to MLB than it once was.
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