SUZUKI, ICHIRO  
 
Image of    Nickname:   N/A Position:   OF
Home: Seattle area Team:   MARINERS
Height: 5' 9" Bats:   L
Weight: 165 Throws:   R
DOB: 10/22/1973 Agent: Tony Attanasio
Birth City: Kasugai, Japan Draft: 2000 - Mariners - Free agent - Out of Japan
Uniform #: 51  
 
YR LEA TEAM SAL(K) G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO OBP SLG AVG
2000 JAP Orix $5,300.00 105 395 73 153 22 1 12 54 21   54 36     .387
2001 AL MARINERS $5,667.00 157 692 127 242 34 8 8 69 56   30 53     .350
2002 AL MARINERS $2,000.00 157 647 111 208 27 8 8 51 31   68 62     .321
2003 AL MARINERS $8,000.00 159 679 111 212 29 8 13 62 34   36 69     .312
2004 AL MARINERS $6,500.00 161 704 101 262 24 5 8 60 36   49 63     .372
2005 AL MARINERS $12,529.00 162 679 111 206 21 12 15 68 33   48 66     .303
2006 AL MARINERS $12,530.00 161 695 110 224 20 9 9 49 45 2 49 71 .370 .416 .322
2007 AL MARINERS $12,531.00 161 678 111 238 22 7 6 68 37 8 49 77 .396 .431 .351
2008 AL MARINERS $17,102.00 162 686 103 213 20 7 6 42 43 4 51 65 .361 .386 .310
2009 AL MARINERS $18,000.00 146 639 88 225 31 4 11 46 26 9 32 71 .386 .465 .352
2010 AL MARINERS $18,000.00 135 560 61 174 25 3 5 34 35 8 41 75 .360 .393 .311
PERSONAL:

  • His name, Ichiro, was chosen by his father, Nobuyuki. Ichiro means "first boy," even though he was the second son born.

    VERY INVOLVED DAD
  • Ichiro's father, Nobuyuki Suzuki, owned a cooler repair shop and was a tool manufacturer in Nagoya, 150 miles west of Tokyo. He stuck a full-sized bat and glove in the hands of his son at age 3. After he came home from work, he'd take his son to a nearby elementary school where they used the field to play catch, hit, take ground balls and run. Then they'd go home, where Ichiro did his homework. Later, his Dad would take him to the batting center, which is what the Japanese call batting cages.

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  • His Dad had virtually every part of Ichiro's life regimented. He made sure Ichiro's diet consisted of nothing but the finest proteins and vitamins. If his son didn't care for what his mother cooked for dinner, he would run to the store and get Ichiro what he wanted, it has been reported. The father would even give his son foot massages.

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  • Ichiro's Dad knew his son was naturally righthanded, but converted him to a lefthanded hitter, knowing it would move him two steps closer to first base. He had his son hitting off 80-mph batting machines before he reached high school. He never missed a single practice, let alone a game at Aikodai Meiden High School.

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  • Ichiro is said to have practiced baseball  every day of his life from 3rd grade through high school. He is still very intense in his approach to the game.

    He joined his first baseball team at age 7 and asked his father, Nobuyuki, to teach him to be a better palyer. The regimented daily routine included the youngster fielding 50 ground balls and 50 fly balls, throwing 50 pitches from the mound and hitting 200 "live" pitches and 300 pitches from a machine.

    As a youngster, Suzuki had the word shuchu—concentration— written on his glove, and he would glance at the word before every pitch.
    (Steve DiMeglio-Baseball Weekly-6/1/05)

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  • When Ichiro was a youngster, one of his heros was Ken Macha, who spent four seasons as a player in Nagoya, Japan, hometown to the Chunichi Dragons, where he played from 1982 to 1985. Nagoya also happened to be the hometown of a young Ichiro.

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    The future Mariners outfielder took a liking to Macha as a player and supposedly, even had a poster of the future manager on his bedroom wall.

    		"It's flattering that a guy who's going to the Hall of Fame was in the city you played in," Macha said Friday. "I went out there and played the way I played, and he appreciated the way I played. I very much appreciate what he's done. When I was a player over there, not too many players had come over to the states, and they kind of took on the challenge of showing they could play Major League Baseball." (Jocelyn Syrstad-MLB.com-6/26/10)
     

  • The Orix Blue Wave originally thought of Ichiro as a pitcher. They liked his strong arm when they signed him in 1992. But Ichiro wanted to hit. Only the team's minor league hitting coach, Kenichiro Kawamura, was able to see the beauty of the teenagers awkward, stumbling swing -- all shoulders, elbows and knees.

    		•  In Japan, Kawamura is often called the man who gave Mariners star Ichiro his swing. Rather he's the man who saved it. That is because he totally refused to change it.
     
    "I found his center of gravity was very strong," Kawamura says through an interpreter. "He makes a perfect triangle with his body, which makes a perfect center of gravity. His head always sits on the top of the triangle. He looks like he goes forward, but he doesn't. It looked awkward, but when he hits the ball it becomes the perfect form."

  • In Japan, Suzuki is A-Rod, Derek Jeter and Junior rolled into one giant superstar. The back of his uniform is printed "ICHIRO," his first name. He is an icon in Japan. Mets manager Bobby Valentine said he is one of the five best outfielders in the world.

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  • In 1998, Suzuki spent two weeks in spring training with the Seattle Mariners. He is good friends with M's closer Kazuhiro Sasaki.

    FFOM JAPAN TO U.S.

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  • When Ichiro signed with the Mariners, he did not know any English. But he started learning the language before 2001 spring training.

  • Expectations for Ichiro were high. Japanese media did not expect him to win the AL batting crown his first year, but they did think he'd hit about .340. Mariners manager Lou Piniella said that .280 would be acceptable for his first year.

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  • In Japan, he was known to play catch with the fans in the rightfield stands during game delays.

  • In Kobe, Japan, on Flower Street, the Orix Blue Wave have a souvenir shop. One-third of the merchandise is dedicated to Ichiro: cups, key chains, baseballs, action figures, T-shirts and jerseys, posters, cellphone headsets, wristbands, stickers, calendars, notebooks, biographies, and loads of other stuff. The Mariners are the only other team besides the Orix Blue Wave. He is so big, that he started his own clothing line -- dropping Nike.

    MUCH MEDIA ATTENTION

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  • When he and Yumiko Fukishima, a famous sports broadcaster, got married in the spring of 2000, they tied the knot in Los Angeles to avoid the massive publicity assault back home in Japan. They are hounded by the media wherever they go. There is a story of Ichiro once being rolled up in a carpet and stuffed in the back of a pickup truck so he could be driven stealthily past a crowd for a date with his future wife.

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  • Ichiro doesn't really like all of the immense attention he constantly gets. "It kind of disturbs me, the way I am treated," he said.

    When he was in Japan, he was also swarmed by the media. He can't go to dinner or shopping in Japan without being mobbed. Ichiro is a private person. Keeping his personal life secret is important to him.

  • His intelligence is off the charts.

  • He does not smoke or drink.

  • Suzuki is a real big Los Angeles Laker fan and adores the Laker Girls.

  • He often wears his cap backward, like Ken Griffey, Jr.

  • Ichiro can read and write in English, and he speaks broken English to his teammates. He is real funny. In four or five minutes he can imitate you. He is like Jim Carrey.

    Ichiro speaks more English than most people think.

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  • Though he wears Randy Johnson's old number 51, Ichiro is a "small unit" at 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds.

  • Ichiro has great feet. They are smooth and sleek, not calloused like those of most players. The reason? In between BP and the start of the game, he sits in front of his locker with a 6-inch, carrot-shaped stick. As he watches a video of the pitcher he'll face that night, he methodically pokes and prods his feet, one at a time, from heel to toes. It is not a dainty process -- he pushes so hard it looks like he'll puncture the skin. But it is very relaxing. In the body there are so many pressure points. He uses the pointed end of the stick to release that pressure. It is his routine.

    		•  He also has a personal masseuse that travels with him, giving him a rub-down, including his feet, before games.

  • Both former M's (now D'Rays) manager Lou Piniella and  formerBlue Jays' skipper Buck Martinez said that Ichiro reminds them of Ralph Garr, known as "The Roadrunner" with the Braves and later the White Sox. He was a contact hitter who won a batting title and had a lifetime .306 batting average.

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  • Ichiro endorsed a hip-hop single song written and produced by a group of Seattle guys and performed by Xola Malik, once known as Kid Sensation.

  • Ichiro credits his wife, Yumiko, with helping him handle the long grind of a Major League season, helping him stay in condition.

  • In 2001, Ichiro and the rest of the Mariner's rookies had to endure the annual rite in which first-year players are required to travel in ridiculous garb. Ichiro was made to wear the white T-shirt and orange shorts of a Hooter's server.

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  • In August 2001, Ichiro signed his first U.S. endorsement deal, with Upper Deck. It was a one-year deal in which Ichiro agreed to sign cards and other Upper Deck Authenticated memorabilia. It was worth "well into the 7 figures," a source was quoted.

  • Ichiro rejects endorsing most products. His agent, Tony Attansio said, "For every one we accept, we reject five to eight."

    2001: Suzuki signed a contract with Cutter and Buck, giving the Seattle-based golf sportswear company the right to sell men's and women's apparel decorated with an Ichiro logo designed by the baseball star's brother and wife. Suzuki also has inked deals with Oakley Inc., a California sunglasses maker; Majestic Athletic, a Pennsylvania sporting-goods company; and Upper Deck, a California company that makes sports trading cards.

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  • Ichiro was the 2001 American League Rookie of the Year. And he also was named MVP of the AL for 2001. He was the first player since Fred Lynn in 1975 to win both awards.

  • Ichiro says that if it looks as if he is in total control, it is not by accident. "I prepare my body and my mind to play the game at high speed," he says. "To me, the most important thing in the game is perfect preparation."

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  • His teammates still watch like little children while Ichiro goes through his stretching routines. It is not just a pregame thing, but something he even does between pitches. Teammate Desi Relaford says, "He does things with his body I couldn't think of doing. He does a squat thing—keeps his feet flat on the ground, touches his butt on the ground and just chills for a while," Relaford says with a chuckle.

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  • Ichiro has been around the American League cities a few times now, so he is much more comfortable in his surroundings. There’s a sushi place he always visits in Toronto, about a 20-minute cab ride from the team hotel. He finds Chicago "beautiful in the summertime." He enjoys walking around downtown Boston because "it makes me feel good" and "only the people who wear the baseball hats recognize me. New York gives me the impression of a busy town," he says, smiling again. "It is sometimes fun to visit—occasionally."

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  • In Japan, Ichiro was just a baseball star. Now, he is a cultural icon. Japanese mornings begin with unprecedented TV broadcasts of each of his games. His face stares from T-shirts, subway ads, and periodicals.

  • In 2003, Ichiro was pleased that his popularity with the Japanese media had dropped a lot. He moved to second, behind the Yankees Hideki Matusi, and he might be third on nights Hideo Nomo pitches.  His "rock star" image was wildly exaggerated, the creation of a Japanese media and public that needed a rebel icon. The only thing revolutionary about Ichiro was the way he played baseball, but he wore sunglasses and colored outside the lines a little, so they made him Elvis. Now, despite the occasional magazine cover, he is closer to simply being like any other great baseball player.

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    WOULD LIKE TO PITCH AGAIN

  • Ichiro says he would like to pitch in one of those blowout games when the Mariners need to save their bullpen arms. He was a hard-throwing pitcher in high school. He says he has a good fastball and a split-finger pitch.

    Ichiro hasn't pitched in a game since the second Japanese All-Star Game of the 1996 season. On a lark, he was brought in to pitch against Hideki Matsui, now of the New York Yankees. Matsui's manager thought that was a little too much fun, though, and spoiled it."I was going to face Godzilla (Matsui)," Ichiro said, "but then they pinch-hit a pitcher for him, so I didn't get a chance."

  • Mariner manager Bob Melvin was asked if he would ever put Ichiro on the mound. "That's not going to happen," Melvin said. That follows in the line of Ichiro's previous manager. Lou Piniella said that if he wanted to get fired, the best way to do that would be to use Ichiro as a pitcher. His value to the franchise is such that the risk of injury, although minimal, would be too much.

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  • According to a story in Time magazine's Asia edition, Suzuki once complained, "I could hit .400, and still Matsui would get more attention." Ichiro ended up with lots of attention when he left Japan for the Major Leagues, and then he didn't want it. Ichiro is not a snob or egotistical. He is just very focused. His first year in America, reporters hid in the bushes of his house in the Seattle suburbs, trying to get another special picture of him.

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  • Ichiro credits Hideo Nomo with opening up the United States for Japanese players back in 1995.

    Ichiro went to the Majors in 2001 and said his fellow Japanese players owe Nomo for being a pioneer.

    "Before Nomo came here I think everyone looked at Major League Baseball as monsters playing the game," said Ichiro through a translator. "When he came here it showed us we can play the game, too. He's probably the one that kind of introduced the game to all of us, introduced the game of baseball."

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  • Now Suzuki will conduct brief interviews in English, and he'll allow multiple Japanese reporters to question him—although each reporter must have at least one question.

  • Ichiro is uncommonly relaxed and confident when he is on the field. Former Mariners manager Lou Piniella said, "He really has the mental part of the game under control."

    Ichiro believes having a clear mind is more important than having a healthy body.  “It’s the times when you’re in a normal mental state that you have a chance to turn in a great performance. If you allow yourself to drift out of normalcy because of pressure or frustration or some other factor, that’s when things can go wrong," Ichiro said. "I believe your best chance to perform at your maximum potential is when you’re in a state of normalcy."

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  • Ichiro did an interesting interview with Bob Costas for HBO. In it, Ichiro revealed that his favorite English expression was, "It's as hot as two rats f------ in a sock in August in Kansas City."

  • In what is believed to be the first and possibly only occurrence of its kind, Hiroshi Yamauchi, the Mariners owner, gave Ichiro 5,000 shares of stock (worth $109 per share in the most recent close) in the company he founded in 1949. Club officials pointed out that this was a gift from Yamauchi in observance of his single-season hit (262) record.

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    "I was surprised and honored, most honored," Ichiro said.

  • In April 2005, Aikodai Meiden High School, Ichiro's alma mater in Japan, won the national spring championship for the first time in school history. Ichiro played in the tournament during his junior year as a left fielder, and as a pitcher during his senior season. The team was eliminated in the first round both years.

  • Ichiro takes batting practice with high-tech sunglasses that are equipped with tiny earpieces and the ability to download music, which provides a soothing background in his ears to prepare him for the upcoming game.

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  • During the off-season before 2006 spring training, in an interview with Kyodo News Service published in the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper in November 2005, Ichiro lamented his necessity  to motivate himself with individual goals, rather than pennant aspirations. Among his concerns:

    He was upset to see his teammates playing cards so frequently, and was dismayed that no coach or veteran scolded them for doing so.

    Midway through the season, he felt as though his teammates had given up on the rest of the year. (Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, by contrast, said he was satisfied with the team's approach, though he also indicated there were instances in which the team could have done better.)

    Ichiro is disappointed that the team has finished out of the playoffs every year since 2001. He misses playing in postseason games. Amid the losing culture, his pursuit of 200 hits has been one of his few motivating factors. Given a choice, he said he would much rather be compelled by the external influence of a pennant race, rather than individual statistics.

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  • During the offseason before 2006 spring training, Ichiro took an acting part as a murderer in a Japanese television drama.

  • In April 2006, Ichiro posed for the Japanese edition of the French fashion magazine L'Officiel. He said he has been approached for modeling shoots before and took this one because of his familiarity with the magazine. That, and he thought it would be a hoot.

    "Experiences such as this, and the drama, that are in a different world from baseball are a plus," he said through interpreter Ken Barron.

    		• Ichiro said the magazine editors presented him with various clothing options, and he made the final choices. One picture on the magazine's Web site shows Ichiro reclining on a chair in a tuxedo, holding a bow tie. He said there are four photos. Ichiro said he doesn't consider himself knowledgeable about fashion, but enjoys selecting his outfits.

    "I feel it's a way of self-expression," he said. "Not only clothes, but watches, cars ... I really, really enjoy it."
    (Larry Stone-Seattle Times-4/30/06)

  • September 26, 2006: Ichiro didn't play in the M's game, stopping his streak of 396 consecutive games played.

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  • July 10, 2007: During the 2007 All Star Game, played in San Francisco, Ichiro went 3-for-3 and hit the first inside-the-park home run in All Star Game history. He was name the All-Star MVP. (The only other Mariner to be MVP of the All-Star Game was Ken Griffey, Jr. in 1992.)

  • Ichiro is the face of the Mariners' franchise.

  • Ichiro is often teased by his teammates for his style choices, but that's a critique that can cut both ways.

    "Although I enjoy (what I wear), all my teammates don't think that what I'm wearing is good fashion," Ichiro said. "A lot of times, they can't believe what I am wearing, but if you ask my opinion, everything they are wearing is a crime."

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  • Ichiro eats the same lunch before every home game: Japanese curry.

    That lunch is made by the same person: his wife.

    He gets to the ballpark at the same time each day, performs the same ritual sleeve-tug before every at-bat and follows a routine that is so repetitive that Jack Nicholson would get more exhausted playing the part of Ichiro than he did as that obsessive-compulsive character from "As Good As It Gets."

  • During the All Star Game days in St. Louis in July 2009, Ichiro took time to visit the grave of Hall of Famer George Sisler, whose season hits record he broke in 2004. Ichiro had long wanted to pay his respects to Sisler, and brought flowers to leave at the gravesite.

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    Ichiro had briefly greeted the members of the Sisler family that were at Safeco Field the night he got his 257th and 258th hits to tie and break Sisler’s 1920 record for the St. Louis Browns. Sisler died on March 26, 1973, in Richmond Heights.

    “There’s not many chances to come to St. Louis,” Ichiro said in the American League clubhouse, speaking through interpreter Ken Barron. “In 2004, it was the first time I crossed paths with him, and his family generously came all the way to Seattle.

    “Above all, it was a chance … I wanted to do that for a grand upperclassman of the baseball world. I think it’s only natural for someone to want to do that, to express my feelings in that way."

    Ichiro said his wife, Yumiko, went with him, as well as some friends.

  • On June 5, 2010, Ichiro scored the 1,000th run of his Major League career. He's third in Seattle history in that category, and he's the eighth-fastest active player to accomplish the milestone, doing so in 1,481 games.

    TRANSACTION REPORT

  • November 2000: The Mariners won the lottery to be able to negotiate a contract to play in America in 2001, giving the Orix Blue Wave $13 million. Then, Ichiro signed a 3-year contract with the M's worth just over $14 million.

  • December 18, 2003: Ichiro signed a four-year, $44 million contract with the Mariners. The deal kept the Mariners from going to arbitration with him.

  • July 13, 2007: Ichiro signed a 5-year, $90 million contract that keeps him in a Mariners uniform until age 39, in 2012. But the M's will be paying him for at least a quarter century. The pact calls for the team to defer $25 million of the $90 million he is owed, money that the team will not have to fully pay until at least 2032.

    Ichiro got a $5 million signing bonus and annual salaries of $17 million from 2008-12 under the terms of the deal.

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    Seattle will pay $12 million in salary each year and defer $5 million per season at 5.5 percent interest. Suzuki will receive the money in annual installments each Jan. 30 starting with the year after his retirement from the major leagues.

    Because of the deferred money, the average annual value of the contract is discounted to $16.1 million under the provisions of baseball's collective bargaining agreement.

    In addition, he gets a housing allowance of $32,000 in 2008, an increase of $1,000 from the 2007 season, and the amount will rise by $1,000 each year. He also will be provided with either a new jeep or Mercedes SUV by the team, which also gives him four first-class round trip tickets from Japan each year for his family. Provisions for the Mariners to give him a personal trainer and an interpreter were continued.

     
     
    BATTING:

       

    • Ichiro is pronounced EE-SHE-ROW, with no inflection.

    • Ichiro is a superb hitter in the leadoff or #2 slot in a batting order. One flaw in his being a leadoff hitter: he rarely walked before the 2002 season, not because he lacked selectivity, but because when he swings the bat, he almost always puts the ball in play. He really has a knack for putting the bat on the ball! He hits the ball "where they ain't," having the ability to hit the ball where he wants to hit it.

  • At the plate, Ichiro crouches down and pops up. He plants his left foot in the batter's box and drags it parallel to the plate. Then he wags his bat below his belt, flips it into a loop, and with his left elbow cocked high in the air, is ready to attack.

  • "Pitching to Ichiro is like pitching to a computer," one AL scout said. "Just because you got him out twice one way, with hard stuff, let's say, doesn't mean you'll do it a third time. He adjusts as well as any of the best hitters in the game. If you let him, he'll take balls off the ground, off the plate and line them. He's just a smart hitter, plus that speed is good for 40-50 hits a year."

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  • He is determined to hack. "No hitter should go to the plate looking for a walk," he said in 2002. "Hitters should hit."

    Pitchers don't like to walk Ichiro, either, because he is so fast and likes to steal. When you make contact as much as him, when you put the ball in play as often as he does, when you hit open spots in the defense like he does, you don't have to walk.

    However, in 2002, he had as many walks by the first week of June as he had during the entire 2001 season (30). But he accepted only 36 bases on balls for the entire 2003 season.

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    • As for bunting, he sure is good at it, having the ability to drop one down anywhere he damn well pleases. "It's not that I don't like to bunt," Ichiro said. "Bunting is one of the traits of a good baseball player. And I enjoy looking at the pitcher and infielders and knowing the catcher and sizing up the defense to see where I might bunt. It is enjoyable to bunt successfully. But I do like to hit."

      Every year he has been in the majors, his bunt hits have gradually decreased. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he had 11 bunt singles in 2001, nine in '02, eight in '03, four in '04 and none in 2005 as of August 8th.
     
  • He slaps hits through the left side of the infield just to keep his batting average up. But when he is hot, he hits line drives all over the yard. He has Rod Carew-like bat control.

  • He isn't real physical, but he is capable of as many as 10-15 home runs per season in the Major Leagues. One of the great contact hitters, he never struck out more than 57 times a season in Japan. He is a patient hitter who rarely strikes out, reminding scouts of Tony Gwynn or Wade Boggs because of that, and because he sprays the ball to all fields.

  • While playing in the Japanese Majors, Suzuki once went 40 games and 216 at-bats without striking out! That's plate discipline. He has such great bat control that during one 16-game stretch, every ball he swung at was hit into play—no fouls, no swinging strikes.

  • Suzuki won 7 Pacific League batting titles in his 7 full seasons in the league. He had a .353 lifetime batting average entering the 2001 season, when he moved to the United States.

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  • Playing in the U.S.A., he eliminated almost all of his high leg kick as he strode into the ball. His swing is smoother, making more use of his upper body to produce power.

    TREMENDOUS ROOKIE YEAR (2001)

    • Ichiro passed Shoeless Joe Jackson for the all-time record for hits by a rookie with his 234th on September 30, 2001.

    • Ichiro became the second rookie to lead either league in batting (.350). The first was the Twins' Tony Oliva in 1964 (.323).
  • April 2 (Opening Day): Ichiro's bunt hit during an 8th-inning rally was his first sacrifice bunt try since 1994, he said.

  • His first month in America, Ichiro started a 23-game hitting streak. It ended May 19, 2001, falling one game short of the Mariner record set in 1997 by Joey Cora.

    FIVE DIFFERENT SWINGS

    • Ichiro almost looks like he's inventing different ways to get base hits. 

      Example: He has the run-and-chop, something like you may have seen in your softball league, where he actually begins to move to first as he drags a groundball toward the shortstop hole. Then, there is the two-fisted tennis backhand, when he wants to force the head of the bat out front and hook a ball to right.

      There are times when he's just a plain, natural hitter, stroking line drives wherever the ball is pitched. Ichiro has about five different grooves and he breaks out a different one depending on what the situation in the game is.  He will change his swing from one pitch to the next.
     

    • Baseball Weekly reported the five swings that M's players (mostly John Olerud) had seen:

      1. The Running On-Hander: he takes two or three steps out of the batter's box before he makes contact.
      2. The Leaner: He leans into the ball and punches it into centerfield.
      3. The Fist Swing: He jams himself on purpose, then takes the ball the other way.
      4. The Chip Swing: He just chips the ball into left field like he the chip-golf-swing would produce.
      5. The Power Swing: He keeps his power in his back pocket, like Ken Griffey Jr.

  • The Seattle Times listed the following:
    1. "The Spoil": flicking tough strikes foul to the right side.
    2. "The Slap": guiding the ball to the left side.
    3. "The Stroke": up the middle, seemingly at will.
    4. "The Slam": shooting gaps, with power on certain pitches.
    5. "The Chris Evert Backhand": two-hand flick; ball can go anywhere. On each, it often appears Ichiro's body is halfway to first while his hands, like a cartoon character, are still back in the box swinging the bat.

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  • Mariner teammate John Olerud loves observing Ichiro. "What I notice more than anything is his balance. You'd think, with the way it appears he's moving toward first as he swings, pitchers would be able to throw him changeups, split-fingers and sinkers away. But he stays on those pitches and lines them the other way."

  • Mariner teammate, pitcher Paul Abbott noted: "It's ridiculous what he does with nasty pitches. The thing is, he knows that as fast as he gets down the line, he can be late on the ball, hit a soft ground ball to the left side and beat it out. So that makes you wonder if throwing something down and away is a good idea. But he has also shown he can handle the ball in on his hands. I think I'd try just throwing the ball down the middle to see if it confuses him."

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  • Pitchers have not figured out how to pitch Ichiro. Most try to pound him inside, hoping to back him off the plate and at least make him uncomfortable enough that he can't settle in, but that really isn't that effective. And he is a superb bad-ball hitter who can make solid contact with pitches well out of the strike zone.

  • White Sox pitcher Mark Buerhle had a piece of good advice on how to pitch Ichiro: "You might as well throw a strike early in the count and let him do what he's going to do, instead of wasting six or eight pitches."

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  • Ichiro says keeping his hands in the proper position is his key to handling any pitch.

  • His clutch hitting results in his being among the American League leaders in intentional walks -- a stunning statistic for a hitter who rarely hits a home run!

  • Ichiro is a contact hitter. He puts the wood on the ball and then runs faster then almost anyone else in the game. Infields play him differently, but if he hits a ball that makes an infielder take two steps to field it, he's probably going to beat that out.

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  • Ichiro actually rolls over his feet when he hits the ball. He looks like he's running out of the batter's box, but really his lower half is basically squaring up to allow his upper half to stay back longer and to see the ball longer. That means he can swing at a pitch, foul one off or whatever he needs to do to put himself in a more advantageous situation in that at-bat.

  • Ichiro gauges speed, direction, the spin on the baseball, then often fouls off several balls that he can't hit through the infield before selecting a pitch he can hit.

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  • Ichiro's tendencies as a hitter: He especially nails fastballs early in the count, or when he is ahead in the count. He also hits both fastballs and curves when there are runners on base. But his weaknesses at the plate are that he will chase a slider, changeup or splitter, especially with two strikes.

  • Like almost every other professional baseball player, Ichiro is very careful when it comes to selecting that bat he will use in a game. Interestingly, Ichiro taps the barrel of each of his bats, listening for a sound only he seems able to hear.

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  • For many years, starting in the mid-90s, Suzuki has carried his bats in a high-tech, airtight, heavily-padded silver case Seattle media-types call The Humidor. It contains Ichiro's polished black bats. There is room for six-to-eight bats, each 33-1/2 inches long and weighing 900 grams (which is 31.75 ounces).

  • In 2002, Suzuki became the seventh player in Major League history with at least 200 hits in each of his first two seasons. The last player to do it was Harvey Kuenn (1953-54). The others to accomplish it: Shoeless Joe Jackson, Lloyd Waner, Johnny Frederick, and Joe DiMaggio.

    On September 3, 2007, Ichiro got his 200th hit of the year, allowing him to reach 200 hits for the seventh consecutive season, tying the AL record.

    The major league record for consecutive 200-hit seasons is eight by Willie Keeler (1894-01). Suzuki matched the AL mark held by Wade Boggs (1983-89). Four more players have collected 200 hits various times during their career: Paul Waner and Lou Gehrig, 8 times, Ty Cobb 9 times and Pete Rose 10 times during his career.

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  • Former Mariner hitting coach Gerald Perry, now with the Pirates, really enjoyed working with Ichiro in Seattle. "He has outstanding hand-eye coordination," Perry said in 2003. "His swing is the same every time, whether it's in a game or in batting practice. For him to do what he's done there is amazing. All the pitchers were geared to get him out. He had all that media scrutiny. He could get a hit every imaginable way -- and some in unimaginable ways. I've never seen anything like it, and I don't think I ever will again. Plus, he's a heck of a guy and a heck of a teammate."

    AMAZING NUMBER OF HITS!

    		•
  • In Japan, Ichiro never played more than 135 games in a season or had more than 540 at-bats. In his first three seasons (2001-2003) in the United States, he has had more than 2,000 at-bats—an average of 670 a year!

    • May 21, 2004: Ichiro singled to right field for hit No. 722 in the Major Leagues, to go along with the 1,278 he collected in his nine years as a member of the Orix Blue Wave of Japan's Pacific League. Ichiro is the first player to compile 2,000 hits between the two leagues.

      Also in May 2004: Ichiro went 50-for-125 (.400), getting 50 hits in a month for the second time in his career. In July, he got 51 hits in one month again, becoming the first player since 1936 to have two 50-hit months in a season.

      Then, in August, Ichiro got over 50 hits again. It was the seventh time a player has had consecutive 50-hit months. The others were Joe Medwick (1936), Lou Gehrig (1930), Bill Terry (1929-30), Rogers Hornsby (1924) and Ty Cobb (1917).

     
  • The record for most 50-hit months in a career is 10, by George Sisler, and the second most is 7 by Heinie Manush. Ichiro has four 50-hit months in his career so far.

  • The record for most hits in a month is 67, accomplished twice by Cobb and once by Tris Speaker. The 56 hits Ichiro got in August 2004 was the most since Cleveland's Jeff Heath had 58 hits in 1938.

  • There have been two-hundred fifteen 50-hit months all-time. None have occurred in April, but it has happened in May (11), June (21), July (92), August (68) and September (23).

    According to Elias, MLB's official statistician, Ichiro is the first player with as many as four 50-hit months in his career since Pete Rose (August 1966, August 1988, July 1973, and September 1979.)

    		•
  • In 2004, Ichiro became the first player Major League history to start an MLB career with four consecutive 200-hit seasons.

    And in 2008, Ichiro set the all-time Major League record when he got over 200 hits in his 8th straight season. (He had been tied with Wade Boggs with seven consecutive 200-hit seasons.)

  • October 1, 2004: Ichiro broke George Sisler's record for hits in a season (257). The only players besides Ichiro in Major League history to reach 250 hits are Sisler in 1920, Lefty O'Doul (254) in 1929, Bill Terry (254) in 1930, Al Simmons (253) in 1925, Rogers Hornsby (250) in 1922, and Chuck Klein (250) in 1930. All of these players except O'Doul are in the Hall of Fame.

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  • 2006: Ichiro led the American League in hits for the third time. He also is one of 30 players in Major League history to collect the 200-100-40 trio and just one of six players to accomplished such a feat twice (he also did it in 2001).

  • 2008: And with eight straight 200-hit seasons, Suzuki matched Wee Willie Keeler's eight in a row from 1894-1901.

    Also in 2008, Ichiro passed Wade Boggs as the fastest player to get to 1,800 career major league hits.

    And Ichiro and Lou Gehrig are the only players to have had 200 hits and scored 100 runs in each of eight seasons. Gehrig accomplished the feat in 1927-28, 1930-32, 1934 and 1936-37.

    		•
  • Back before the 2005 season, Ichiro was asked if hitting .400 was a realistic goal.

    "It has been many years since anyone hit .400," Ichiro said after participating in the Mariners' first full-squad workout. "I don't know if I'll ever do it. I just want to be a player people say has a chance. But it is probably best that no one does it. Then, no one expects it can be done."

    Actually, Ichiro did hit .400 before, but it was at Aikoudai Meiden High School in Kobe, Japan, where he hit .500—and that, he confessed came as a surprise.

    "In junior high, we used rubber baseballs, and it is impossible to hit a rubber ball square; it just goes out of shape," Ichiro said. "I hit .200 and I definitely was worried that I wouldn't be able to hit in high school."

    •  
    But in high school, they switched to regular baseballs.

    "That was much easier for me to hit," he explained. "When your bat speed is faster, it is hard to hit rubber well. A quick bat is much better for hardballs, but it was only when I reached high school I realized it would be much easier for me." (Bob Finnigan-Seattle Times-2/23/05)

  • In 2008, Ichiro tied with Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the most hits in the American League. It was the fifth time in eight years Ichiro led the AL in hits. Among the players who have won five or more hits titles are some of the big names in baseball, including Pete Rose, Stan Musial, Tony Gwynn and Ty Cobb.

    		•

  • September 6, 2009: Ichiro got the 2,000th hit of his major league career in his 1,402nd big league game. Only Al Simmons was quicker to 2,000 hits, doing it in 1,390 games.

    And on September 13, 2009: Ichiro pushed through a ninth consecutive 200-hit season.

    BREAKDOWN VS. RIGHTIES AND LEFTIES

    • 2004: Ichiro hit .404 with 5 home runs in 208 at-bats vs. lefthanders, and .359 with 3 homers in 496 at-bats against righthanded pitchers.

    • 2005: Ichiro hit .352 with 5 home runs in 196 at-bats vs. lefthanded pitchers, and .284 with 16 homers in 483 at-bats against righthanders.

    • 2006: Suzuki hit a whopping .352 with 2 home runs in 176 at-bats vs. lefthanded pitchers, and .312 with 7 home runs in 519 at-bats against righthanders.
     
  • In 2007, Ichiro hit .331 with one home run in 172 at-bats against lefties. And .358 with 5 home runs in 506 at-bats vs. righthanded pitching.

  • In 2008, Suzuki only hit .288 with one home run in 208 at-bats vs. lefthanded pitchers. But he hit .320 with 5 home runs in 478 at-bats vs. righthanders.

  • In 2009, Ichiro hit .339 with 3 homers in 224 at-bats vs. lefthanders, and .359 with 8 homers in 415 at-bats against righthanded pitchers.

    • Ichiro entered the 2010 season with a career batting average of .333. He had 84 home runs and 515 RBI in 6,099 at-bats. And he had a .378 on-base-percentage for his career.
     
     
    FIELDING:

    • Ichiro can play center or either corner outfield spot.

      And in mid-June, 2008, the Mariners moved Ichiro from center to right field, mainly because the felt that center field might be wearing Ichiro down and leading to a decline in his overall production.

      • "That was a little bit of the thought process," manager John McLaren said. "That's a big chore out there, to cover that ground."

      He also suspected that the corner outfielders playing alongside him were often too quick to assume Ichiro would do everything for them.

      "He takes so many balls out there that I think the other two outfield guys—whoever they are—from last year to today, they think that he's got everything. And sometimes they think, 'Well, he's got it.' Well, he doesn't have it. So, this way here, it takes a little pressure off that. Everybody's got their turf out there to go get it."
  • Ichiro is spectacular in the outfield. He has one of the strongest arms in the game and can run down anything. Runners do not take the extra base on him.

    SHOWS OFF HIS ARM

    • Ichiro is quite the showman. During practice, he often shags fly balls with behind-the-back catches. In Japan, he would show off his arm when warming up between innings by throwing across the outfield to the left-fielder.

    • He loves to show that arm off. It may be second strongest in the Majors to Vladimir Guerrero in terms of power. Ichiro was clocked at 93 mph as a high school pitcher, and is second to none as far as accuracy.

    • Suzuki gets his glove crafted by Nobuosh Tsubota, well-known in Japan for his work. Tsubota said Ichiro likes his gloves made differently than most players, preferring his fingers be made loose for a better grip on the ball.

      GOLD GLOVER
     
  • In 2001, he won a Gold Glove his rookie season, after throwing out 8 runners and making only one error. Ichiro repeated as Gold Glove American League outfielder in 2002 and again in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 when he won his 9th-straight Rawlings Gold Glove.

    Ken Griffey Jr., is the only player in franchise history with more Gold Gloves (10) than Ichiro. In 2007, Ichiro committed just one error all season—on Sept. 12 against Oakland—in 433 chances. That gave him a .998 fielding percentage, breaking Griffey's club record of .997 set in 1992. Ichiro had 424 putouts and eight assists.

    The Mariners have won at least one Gold Glove every year since 1987, when pitcher Mark Langston became the first player in franchise history to strike gold on defense.

    		• This 21-year streak is the longest in the Majors. The Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers are next at 14 years.

  • In 2003, Ichiro led all AL right fielders with 12 assists while making two errors. His .994 fielding percentage tied Magglio Ordonez (White Sox) for the AL lead.

  • When moved to center field in 2006, Ichiro only committed three errors in 393 chances and had 11 assists; the fourth straight year he's reached double digits in assists.

  • "Simply the best right fielder in the game," former Mariners manager Bob Melvin said of Ichiro. "I can't remember how many times runners just stopped at second base. And when they tried to take an extra base, he'd get them."

  • Ichiro does not dive for balls or run into walls. If he did, he would most likely be injured. He, and management, would rather have him for 160 games instead of maybe only 120 games or so.
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    RUNNING:

    • Ichiro has above average speed. He has been timed as fast as 3.7-3.8 seconds in getting his size-9 cleats down to first base, so he gets a whole lot of infield hits. He beats out anything that bounces twice.

    • His speed changes how the infield plays. With Ichiro on base, there is no routine ground ball out.

    • In 2001, Ichiro led the American League in stolen bases (56).

    • He could steal about 50 bases per year, except that most all pitchers now use a slide-step when he is on base, cutting down on his opportunities

    • Ichiro runs the bases with incredible precision. In fact, Ichiro may be the best in the game at running a tight line around the bases, a line a NASCAR driver would be proud to call his own.

      As a runner circles the bases, there are paths of least resistance. Running to first to beat out an infield hit, he'll hit the right front corner of the base with his left foot. Every time. Running through first base en route to a double or a triple, he'll make a little turn as he approaches the bag, then lean his left shoulder toward second base. He'll hit the left front corner of the bag. Every time.

      There's an art to running the bases like that. He covers the shortest amount of ground in the shortest amount of time. There is no wasted motion, no stutter steps, no landing on the wrong foot, nothing off balance or out of kilter.
  • On May 16, 2007, Ichiro's streak of  45 straight stolen bases ended. But it set a new American League record.

  • In 2007, Ichiro became just one of three players in Major League history to steal at least 30 bases in each of his first seven seasons, accompanied by Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman.

    Ichiro has a 90 percent success rate over the three seasons 2005-through-2007, the highest over a three-year span since 1951.

  • On May 18, 2008, Ichiro stole his 291st base, setting a new Mariners' franchise record for steals. The previous record of 290 was held by Julio Cruz.

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    CAREER INJURY REPORT:

    • July 15, 2007: Ichiro suffered a left knee contusion (severe bruise) when he was hit by a Justin Verlander pitch.

    • July 2008: Ichiro did not participate in the home run derby because of a hamstring injury.  "Yes, I was asked," Ichiro confirmed, through interpreter Ken Barron. "But because of my hamstring, I decided not to participate."

    • April 2, 2009: Ichiro went on the D.L. for the first time when he was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer.

     
     
    Last Updated 9/4/2010. All contents © 2000 by Player Profiles. All rights reserved.