In Ichiro’s eight seasons in Seattle, he’s accomplished a lot. He’s won an MVP, been an All-Star eight times, won seven Gold Gloves with his eighth pending and likely to occur, won Rookie of the Year, and has over 1,700 hits. However, the Mariners would be wise to trade him now.
Much of Ichiro’s perceived value is based on archaic measurements.
The Gold Glove award is decided by managers and coaches voting.
The MVP and Rookie of the Year awards are both decided by the Baseball Writers Association of America, the same group who chooses who enters the Hall of Fame.
Every one of Ichiro’s All-Star appearances has been decided by fans worldwide.
The problem? They are all subjective. I’ll delve deeper into Ichiro’s statistics later in the article.
In Ichiro’s MVP season, 2001, Jason Giambi led the AL in OBP and slugging, so he clearly led in OPS, and he also led the AL in doubles and walks, hit 38 home runs, and was second, behind Ichiro, in AL Batting Average.
That was the year the Mariners won 116 games, but Giambi’s A’s had the second-best record in the MLB with 102 wins. How much of Ichiro’s MVP win can really be attributed to accolades, and how much was excitement Ichiro brought to the game?
- B/R Ticket Guide
Ichiro’s All-Star appearances can be greatly attributed to voting in Japan. Ichiro, however, is not the best outfielder, right fielder, or even leadoff hitter in the American League, but like I said, I’ll get to that later.
Ichiro’s Rookie of the Year award is tainted as well. While Ichiro was technically a 27-year-old rookie in 2001, he was an extremely accomplished professional baseball player. Ichiro was a three-time NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) MVP, and a seven-time Gold Glove winner in his nine years in Japan.
Ichiro is a very good fielder, and deserves a lot of the praise he receives in the outfield, but how many outfielders that refuse to give up their bodies win Gold Gloves? If it was a Golden Arm award, he’d undoubtedly deserve the award.
That brings me to the position Ichiro has played for most of his MLB career, right field. Corner outfield positions are generally reserved for power hitters. With a rangy centerfielder, a team can get by with an average fielder in both corners as long as he can hit.
Ichiro’s insistence on playing right field has hamstrung the Mariners' offensive output. Since Ichiro joined the league, 27 of the 70 top-10 leaders in OPS have been corner outfielders for most of their careers, not including Albert Pujols, compared to only five center fielders. For the record, Ichiro has never been in the top 10 in OPS.
Ichiro has spent nearly eight seasons in the MLB, and still talks through a translator. Perhaps this is a greater issue of class-perception, but 28 percent of the MLB’s players were born in another country, yet they manage to speak to the English-speaking media, no matter how broken their own English is.
However, Ichiro, a well-educated man who came to the United States under much different conditions and through much different means than many Latino players, still totes around a translator.
When Ichiro does talk through his translator, he usually speaks in mangled baseball clichés. However, when he chooses to speak outside the box, it's understandable why he values the buffer zone between his mouth and what the fans and media hear.
Ichiro’s notable quotes have nearly all been quixotic, mysterious, and way out of character—at least the character his translator reveals.
Here is Part Two.
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4 months ago
Im about to read part two so Im not yet going to give a full comment other than this is a pretty baseless argument and so far have not said anything to prove that Ichiro does not deserve all of his achievements.
4 months ago
Wow, sorry to say, but do you actually follow Ichiro very closely? You bring up a lot of cliches and misconceptions about Ichiro and tackle them on the same level I would expect from a disinterested, armchair sportsman, but I don't see any insights here.
Getting on Ichiro for not sacrificing his body in the outfield? He doesn't dive for balls, because he gets to balls faster by running through them, rather than diving for them and he's said this himself. He considers diving just showmanship. He argues that if diving were more effective, people would do this when running to first base.
Ichiro's MVP may not have been as deserved as for Giambi, possibly, but it also wasn't really undeserved, and everyone knows that a team's wins play a big role. Sure, Oakland won 102 games, but Seattle's 116-win achievement was unprecedented in the modern era and that surely played a role. Also, Ichiro had more tools than Giambi, because Ichiro could run bases and play defense (yes, both throwing *and* fielding).
And what does Ichiro's English have to do with his baseball skills? Everyone knows he can speak English and its his prerogative if he wants to use a translator during interviews. Is it eccentric? Well, given that he also usually does it with his back turned to reporters, yes it is. Is it a slight on his playing skills? No. Nobody gets on Vladimir Guerrero for not speaking English and his English is much worse than Ichiro's. But then again, Vlad hits for power, which is the real issue here, I think.
4 months ago
People do dive when running to first base... I think that a lot of players slide and dive when it isn't necessary, but there are a lot of catches made by elite outfielders that wouldn't be made without a dive. Also, while Ichiro is faster than many outfielders, watch him closely, he doesn't read a ball poorly but he's certainly not great at it (hence why he's more comfortable in right) and lets a lot of balls fall that should be caught, while catching balls that would be hits otherwise when he does read a ball right and get a good jump.
Unprecedented? The Yankees won 114 games in 1998, so two extra wins makes it unprecedented? Ichiro had more tools on the field than Giambi, but Giambi was fine at his position. Giambi however, Hit for power, hit for average, was a decent baserunner despite his lack of speed, and had the 6th tool, plate discipline.
I'll touch further on what I dislike about Ichiro's attitude toward the media in terms of his translator. However, I'll do it when I put out a piece with Kenny.
4 months ago
I agree with some of your points, the fact that Matsui did not win the Rookie of the Year when he was clearly the best "rookie" or better yet "newcomer" in the league, but Ichiro used the same path he did but for some reason Ichiro's prior professional years were overlooked. Also the fact that he still uses a translator after 7 years in the states is rediculous, you're a professional baseball player, try to learn how to speak our language, and don't tell me you can't find three hours a week to begin to learn our language.
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