Is Ichiro in Decline?

[willshad]

A quarter through the season and he is hitting .271 with a.321 OPB. At age 34 has he lost a step? Interesting is that he has 16 steals and only 1 CS; a pace which if he continued would be the most steals, and second best percentage, of his career.

[Stumanji]

Statistically speaking, May (.366) and June (.344) are his best months for batting average, whereas April (.293) is by far his worst month.

He's a slow starter. If he's not up in the .300's by the end of May, or at least Mid-June, then we can start the "is he on the decline" talk.

[Old Sweater]

Statistically speaking, May (.366) and June (.344) are his best months for batting average, whereas April (.293) is by far his worst month.

He's a slow starter. If he's not up in the .300's by the end of May, or at least Mid-June, then we can start the "is he on the decline" talk.

That or wait until he is a year or two older. Get past 35 or so and every bump in the road is a spike in your coffin.

[Old Sweater]

A quarter through the season and he is hitting .271 with a.321 OPB. At age 34 has he lost a step? Interesting is that he has 16 steals and only 1 CS; a pace which if he continued would be the most steals, and second best percentage, of his career.

Ichiro stole another base yesterday and is on pace for his best SB total since his rookie year. Since he has the green light to go at any time I wonder if he is stealing bases more to make up for his slow start with the bat?

[Zito75]

That or wait until he is a year or two older. Get past 35 or so and every bump in the road is a spike in your coffin.

I love it man... I turn 35 in a couple months.

[Old Sweater]

I love it man... I turn 35 in a couple months.

Are you in decline?

[RaysCubsHalos]

I think his numbers look especially poor (for him, at least) because of how anemic the rest of Seattle's offense is. We all know he'll turn it around and hit at lest .320 and swipe 40 bags. And hey, if that's a "drop" in production, I'd take that any day of the week!

[Zito75]

Are you in decline?

Mentally, yes. But that's because the A's offense is driving me insane!

[KCGHOST]

He isn't all that far from numbers he has posted in other years. Batting average is highly volatile for most players and Ichiro is no exception.Three times he has hit .350+ and four times he has hit less than .325. It would only take a modest hot streak to get him up to the low end of his norms.

[mrakbaseball]

There is no logical reason why Ichiro was moved back to RF. The only other CF within 75 put outs the past year and a half is Aaron Rowand. He has more value in CF. Corner outfielders are more easy to come by. The M's season has long been done so I guess it doesn't matter. Ichiro is the type of player that needs a B.A. over the .350 mark to be an offensive asset.

[Wade8813]

With the M's season all but over, moving Ichiro to RF for now to keep him happier makes sense. Also, to make things easier on him; less tiring.

[Westlake]

So he has only been an offensive asset twice in his career?

[mrakbaseball]

So he has only been an offensive asset twice in his career?

He's hit .350 or more 3 times. '01, '04, '07. He needs to hit that high because he doesn't walk often. He's had 1 season with a .400 on base percentage. Only 1 season with more than 30 doubles. His high for walks in a season is 68. He is strictly a singles hitter. For a singles hitter with that skillset, to be an asset you need a B.A. over .350.

[Seattle1]

At age 34 has he lost a step?

I really don't know how a cogent argument can be fabricated for Ichiro "losing a step" when he is on pace to steal the most bases in his career, and maybe even lead MLB in SB's.

That is a round-a-bout way to say, No, he is not losing a step. Bizarrely, everybody always seems to be waiting with baited breath for Ichiro to "lose a step." You hear it every year. He hasn't. He won't. He's playing at the exact same level or higher as he was in 2001 and will for years to come.

Just to let you know.

[abolishthedh]

Actually, Seattle1, virtually all players that come to mind have lost a step by the age of 35, and it doesn't show up in prompt fashion in any statistic. It doesn't show up promptly in SBs, because even though a step is lost the player might be attempting more steals for various reasons. The lost step doesn't show up promptly in BA because a player's BA is affected somewhat by the lineup's performance around the hitter, as well as other health concerns.

In Ichiro's case, I am the last one onboard as usual. Last year, I finally admitted that he was the legitimate equal of players like Carew, Boggs and Gwynn. All 3 of these guys are in the Hall, and they all slipped a little bit along the way only to rebound. Boggs had the biggest slip, but none of these 3 players fell off overnight. This may not be his best year, but its a good bet he'll have a couple of great years left.