Ichiro Suzuki: The Man, the Myth, the Fraud? Part Two

.423

2.8

David Eckstein

.285

.351

.362

10.2

While many of those players are clearly not the leadoff hitter that Ichiro is, it is clear that he is far from the best leadoff hitter in baseball. Ramirez and Sizemore are both better statistically, nearly equaling Ichiro in OBP, and greatly outslugging him.

What is interesting is that in the past three seasons, even before Ichiro signed his ridiculous extension, the other five players combined to make just over half of what Ichiro alone made.

Ichiro also sees 3.58 pitches per plate appearance for his career, compared to Sizemore (4.02), Figgins (3.97), Ramirez (3.90), DeJesus (3.76), and Eckstein (3.81).

Chone Figgins, who is clearly not quite the leadoff hitter that Ichiro is, has been willing, and able, to play every position on the field besides first base, catcher, and pitcher.

While he seems to be a mainstay at third base for the Angels now, there is a major misconception that third base is a premium position in baseball. There are very few elite offensive third basemen.

Ichiro, by contrast, has done all but urinate in right field to mark it as his territory. These are all right fielders who made less than Ichiro from 2005-2007.

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