Ichiro Thread

[Rennie Stennett]

Free Pass

Say, Ichiro is so smokin' hot that steam is coming off his bat and he gets over the .400 mark in say, late August and all of a sudden, the pitchers start giving him four wide ones every at bat ? Okay, I'm getting crazy here. thx for your work.

[Edgartohof]

Which would you prefer for him to do? Break 262 hits in a season, or hit .400 (though if he does one, the other is probably not too far behind)?

[Rennie Stennett]

Ichiro

I would like to see him hit (.400).

[Edgartohof]

Well, Ichiro ended up giong 2-4 tonight, with his second hit being a double (he later scored on it). But he also had 2 SB's, one after each of his hits.

So he now is at 98 hits for the season, is batting: .364/.412/.454

And is hitting .568/.579/.784 in June, and has a 10 game hit streak going, with 2 or more hits in 9 of them, including the last 5 games all being multi-hit games.

So he is on pace for:

162 - G
692 - AB
252 - H
123 - R
21 - 2B
13 - 3B
5 - HR
46 - RBI
314 - TB
46 - BB
69 - SO
51 - SB
5 - CS
(91%)
.364/.412/.454/.866

[Edgartohof]

I'm sorry that this is late, but Ichiro now has surpassed 2500 hits in his professional career - 2506 to be exact.

This includes 1228 in the MLB and 1278 in Japan.

Now I would like to see someone tell me that he would not have been able to accomplish this same feat in the same time if he had played solely in the US. In fact, if he had started at the same time, he would have reached this number faster, due to the longer schedules here.

This would put him at 81st on the All-Time Hits list, and 5th on the list among active players (by FAR the youngest).

[csh19792001]

Which would you prefer for him to do? Break 262 hits in a season, or hit .400 (though if he does one, the other is probably not too far behind)?

.400, by far. It's become mythical in its significance and historical stature.

[Rennie Stennett]

Can You Believe It

with a couple of hits tonight, Ichiro has a 11 game hit streak going. he don't walk much and he gets 5 AB's per game. Is this the year to break Joe D's 56 game hit streak ? Ichiro has done everything else, except hit in 56 and hit .400.

My Oh My !

[Edgartohof]

Well, Ichiro just added another hit tonight - a nice 3-Run Home Run! And he may still get another At Bat in this game - one can only hope.

[Edgartohof]

Well, he ended up going 3-6 tonight (though he did reach base in his final at bat due to an error). As mentioned above, he added a 7th inning 3 run HR to his previous 2 hits, and had 3 Runs and 3 RBI for the evening.

So he now has 101 hits, 51 Runs, 8 doubles, 5 triples, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 20 SB (90%), and is batting: .367/.414/.465

He is also batting .558/.568/.813 so far in June, and with 24 hits so far, is on pace for 69 hits this month - a record I believe!!!

He also has an 11 game hitting streak, with multiple hits in each of his last 6 games, and 12 of his last 14.

Ichiro has been hitting .464/.496/.592 the last 30 days as well, including 58 hits!


Though while his .367 BA is QUITE impressive, it is being overshadowed by the young-gun on the Twins - Mauer, who is hitting a nearly unthinkable .388, though unlike Ichiro, I tend to wonder when he will suddenly crash (many others think this as well), and come back to earth.

So as soon as Mauer gets off the hot, HOT streak he is on, and reverts back to the norm, Ichiro will quickly pass him, and in all probability, not give up the lead (at least not to Mauer).

With the 101 hits he now has, Ichiro is on pace for 256 hits for the season - yet that now almost seems "normal" for him, and I would agree, a race for .400 would be exciting right now (heck, even it it is Mauer who chases it...as long as Ichiro is in the hunt as well).

[Edgartohof]

With Ichiro being really hot lately, I happened to forget to check on something I was meaning to. A little while ago (a couple months back), anothe poster put together a couple lists of players totals since 2000.

On those lists was the top 10 MLB leaders in hits. Ichiro happened to be second on that list, despite not starting in the MLB until 2001 - he was a full season behind the others, yet was only a few hits behind the leader!

The list at the time (before the season started) looked like:

1 Todd Helton 1157
2 Ichiro Suzuki 1130
3 Derek Jeter 1129
4 Miguel Tejada 1116
5 Alex Rodriguez 1110
6 Johnny Damon 1109
7 Vlad Guerrero 1088
8 Garret Anderson 1071
9 Bobby Abreu 1042
10 Juan Pierre 1040

But it now looks like:

1. Ichiro Suzuki - 1231
T-2. Derek Jeter - 1202
T-2. Todd Helton - 1202
4. Miguel Tejada - 1200
5. Johnny Damon - 1180

[Edgartohof]

Here's where he is compared to the league:

BA - .366; 2nd
Mauer might be slipping a little, so be on the lookout for Ichiro to takeover in the upcoming week or so.

OBP - .414; 10th
A very good OBP year for him (only 10 other in the league with a .400+ OBP).

Runs - 51; 3rd
His recent run has vaulted from around 10th, to within 3 - just a good game away from the top here.

SB - 20; 5th
With 3 others tied at 21, he is really in "3rd" place, and again, one good game puts him in 2nd (1st has a decent lead with 27 for the season).

3B - 5; 1st
Well, Safeco may not be good for much else, but it gives enough room for speedsters to go for 3 - and that's why the Mariner's are leading the league in triples (2nd place in the league has only 13).


So Ichiro is near the top of his game, but he still has room to improve (scary huh?)!!!

[csh19792001]

Here's where he is compared to the league:

So Ichiro is near the top of his game, but he still has room to improve (scary huh?)!!!

Edgar,
Do you think Ichiro is still young enough to make a legitimate run at .400 in the next couple of years, before he begins to slow down? What do you think the chances are that he could come very close to doing it (or actually do it) before all is said and done? It's pretty much unthinkable that he could do it this year, since he started off so lousy. He'd have to hit like he did the second half of 2004 (.429) for almost the rest of the year, I suppose...

Do you think he could break any other records in the future (career or single season)....and how do you think his year will end up?

Is there anything noticably different in his approach/style this month (or actually, since the beginning of May, since he's hitting .452 for the last month and a half)? Has he made any comments himself about what changed? I was really down on his last year, and then he got off to an atrocious start again this year, and I figured his hacker style was starting to catch up to him. Hopefully I was wrong, and he'll end up with another 2004 type season and continue that trend.

Mauer, the catcher, is still hitting an impossible .386- I bet he ends up around .310-.320 when all is said and done this year.

[Edgartohof]

Edgar,
Do you think Ichiro is still young enough to make a legitimate run at .400 in the next couple of years, before he begins to slow down? What do you think the chances are that he could come very close to doing it (or actually do it) before all is said and done? It's pretty much unthinkable that he could do it this year, since he started off so lousy. He'd have to hit like he did the second half of 2004 (.429) for almost the rest of the year, I suppose...

Do you think he could break any other records in the future (career or single season)....and how do you think his year will end up?

Is there anything noticably different in his approach/style this month (or actually, since the beginning of May, since he's hitting .452 for the last month and a half)? Has he made any comments himself about what changed? I was really down on his last year, and then he got off to an atrocious start again this year, and I figured his hacker style was starting to catch up to him. Hopefully I was wrong, and he'll end up with another 2004 type season and continue that trend.

Mauer, the catcher, is still hitting an impossible .386- I bet he ends up around .310-.320 when all is said and done this year.

Well, I'll try my best to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability here.

I feel that he may try to make a run at it this year. Do I think he will do it? I would love to say yes, but common sense and history says no, but if it is going to happen anytime soon, he has the best chance (forget everyone and there, "he needs to take more walks").

He is already on pace for 255 hits this year, and he can usually pick it up during the second half. So for him to be at this pace this early (he already has more hits now than he did at this time in 2004), and how hot he is now, and how hot he usually gets in July, I say he may make a run at 262 - and that is the more realistic goal to look forward to.

I expect for him to be approaching 250 hits (minimum 245) by years end, and with a good finish, be approaching 262 and possibly passing it. I expect to see him hitting over .370 for the season, and maybe approach .380 (still a long ways from .400), but possibly at high as .385 or so if he can continue to tear it up. He is also having a better year on the bases, so he should have closer to 50 SB's this year for the second time since coming to the U.S. He is definitely not as fast, but when he puts his mind to it, he still has the speed he needs. Actually, I think that the better he is on the bases, the better he will be at the plate. Now this is not scientific or anything, and I haven't actually done any background, but just as an observation, I see a correlation between his base stealing and his hitting - when one is good, so is the other. Now truly, they don't directly affect each other, but when he is successful at both, it shows that he is staying attentive to the game, even on the bases, and keeping him focused throughout the game, seems to me to be a good thing.

He seems to be seeing the ball a bit better. He has always had the tremendous skill to be able to foul off nearly any ball he wants, and he is seeing a LOT of pitches this year (second in the league with 1200 or so I believe), and when he is seeing better, he gets to pick and choose his balls. Specifically, I believe he is catching the release point of right handed pitchers better, and is hitting about even for either hand.

First some background: As most of us know, generally a left-handed batter will hit better agains right-handed pitchers, well in Ichiro's case, that is not true, he hits LHP better (generally not a lot better, but noticeably), and last year, he was the same ol' Ichiro against lefties, but he suffered considerably against RHP.

This year he is hitting:

LHP - .361/.424/.434
RHP - .367/.410/.474

Honestly, I feel (though I haven't anything to back it up), that part of the reason that he was not so good last year was the fact that he was probably tired after 2004, plain and simple. He had a lot of stress that year, especially as the season wound down, the closer he got to the record, the more media attention, fan attention, personal stress, trying to break the record, and maintain a .300 BA. That can get to a person, and can affect them both consciously and unconsciously. I'm not saying that he didn't try last year, I mean I never saw him give in or give up, but he may not have been all there.

As for this year, well, Ichiro is forever a competitor. He never wants to lose, and like many players, he likes to accomplish things. He does not necessarily go out to set a record each year; the only thing he has said he goes for is 200 hits - that's more important to him than a .300 BA - everything else is gravy (that last part is my own addition). And as I said before, Ichiro is starting to get older, and he knows it. I'm sure he has a better handle on where he is and how long he can keep this up, and he knows that he won't be able to do this forever, and I think that may be a partial motivation for him this year. He wants to prove to himself and everyone else that he can still do this (and he can), and that he can still wow us, and make the pitchers look silly and fielders work hard for nothing (he should have been a track star - think Olympics - seriously).

And to end this, I feel the same about Mauer, I expect to see him have a considerable drop in production, but even then, he will be having a great year, but when you think about it, if he can hit .384 this far into the year, what's a little longer? In fact, he has been playing a bit more DH instead of Catcher recently if I recall, in order to just let him hit and not worry about the rigors of catching, but I guess we'll see. In the end, for the BA title, I'm going to go with Ichiro and his past history and current production over a seemingly overreaching young-gun.

[Rennie Stennett]

The Magical (.400)

Not to steal Edgar's thunder here, but I think his slow start won't hurt him that much. what I mean is that it is easier to raise your average earlier in the year than later and Ichiro seemed to snap out of it pretty quick. As you know, a base hit in September raises your average a point or two.

Ichiro is in such a groove now that it seems he can do whatever he wants at the plate.

[Seattle1]

There is a good article about Ichiro in today's (6/13) Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper, btw.