Ichiro Suzuki's Career
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by Behbigben15
Ichiro Suzuki could end up being considered one of the best hitters in MLB history when he retires, and he is already a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. Ichiro played in Japan for 8 seasons before coming to America to play. From 1993-2000, Ichiro had a .353 career average in Japan. When he came to America in 2001, Ichiro won the AL Rookie of the Year award, and the AL MVP award in 2001.
In each of his 7 seasons in the majors he has had a .300 BA or better. 2004 was his best season, in which he hit 8 HR's, 60 RBI's, 36 SB, 262 hits (ML record), and had a .372 BA. Ichiro has never been a power hitter (in 7 seasons in MLB he has only 66 HR's), but he doesn't have to be a HR hitter, he has had 200+ hits during each season from 2001-2006 (has 173 thus far this year).
Ichiro is, without a doubt, the greatest hitter in the Majors right now, and will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Ichiro is also a great fielder, he used to play RF, but is now the Seattle Mariners CF. Ichiro is at age 33, and the only reason he won't get 3,000 career hits, is because he entered MLB at age 27, if you add up all of his Japan hits, and American hits it will add up to 2,805 and counting. Suzuki goes by just Ichiro most of the time, he has Ichiro on the back of his jersey instead of his last name, Suzuki, like every other major league player. Ichiro was the first Japanese-born player in MLB, and is the greatest in its history.
Ichiro has 6 gold glove awards all of which came as an OFer, he was voted this year's all-star game MVP, after going 3 for 3, with the all-star game's first inside-the-park HR. This year, the Seattle Mariners are right back in the playoff race, mainly because of the playing of Ichiro Suzuki, the greatest hitter in the game today. Ichiro may also have the best batting stance in the majors as well.
