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Miami Marlins Ichiro Suzuki Should Be in the All-Star Game

By Bobby Mueller

Jun 15, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Ichiro Suzuki (51) records his 4256th professional baseball hit on this pitch with an infield single against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 15, 2016; San Diego, CA, USA; Miami Marlins center fielder Ichiro Suzuki (51) records his 4256th professional baseball hit on this pitch with an infield single against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /
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Ichiro Suzuki is hitting .354 for the Miami Marlins and should get a spot in the 2016 All-Star game.

The last time Ichiro Suzuki hit over .300 in a season was the same year that Apple released the iPad. That was in 2010 and now iPads are being used by every team in the Major Leagues right there in the dugout (yes, even the Phillies). Ichiro was with the Seattle Mariners back then and his .315 average gave him 10 straight years over the .300 mark, along with 10 straight years with at least 200 hits.

Ichiro hasn’t hit .300 or had 200 hits in a season since then. He went from hitting .300 every year and being a 4 to 5 win player to a .280-ish hitter worth 0 to 2 wins per season. From 2011 to 2015, Ichiro hit .268/.304/.342 and averaged 0.8 WAR per season, according to Baseball-Reference.com.

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This season has been different. Ichiro has discovered a fountain of youth down in Florida and is currently hitting .354/.414/.402 for the Marlins, while also providing above average defense. He’s succeeding in a way that hitters in 2016 do not: by making extremely good contact. National League hitters are striking out 21.4% of the time. Ichiro has struck out just 5% of the time. For NL players with 140 or more plate appearances, the next-closest batter in strikeout rate is Ben Revere, at 10.1%. Ichiro is striking out half as much as the next-toughest batter to strike out. He’s always shown a strong ability to make contact, but he’s taken it to another level this season. It’s the lowest strikeout rate of his career. He’s coupled that with the highest walk rate of his career, at 9.3%, and a back-in-the-day Batting Average on Balls In Play of .370.

So what’s not to like here? A 42-year-old outfielder hitting .350? He should be a slam-dunk for the All-Star game. Well, there are some caveats. Ichiro doesn’t have enough playing time to qualify for the batting title. He’s been a fourth outfielder this season and has just 141 plate appearances. His 1.1 WAR is 15th among outfielder in the National League. Teammates Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich have both been more valuable than Ichiro.

Based on WAR, Ichiro doesn’t deserve a spot on the NL All-Star roster, but MLB should think outside the box. Ichiro is on the cusp of getting his 3,000th hit in the Major Leagues and is having a very good season, even if it’s light on playing time. He’s a slam-dunk Hall of Famer and popular all around baseball. He’s also a joy to watch, with his fastpitch-like slap-and-dash hitting style and still superior speed down the baseline. Heck, if the game goes into extra innings and the NL runs out of pitchers, Ichiro will take the hill. He’s done it before.

If we look back to a historical player who has been mentioned often lately when Ichiro’s accomplishments come up, we find Pete Rose. The original Hit King. Charlie Hustle. As has been reported here, Ichiro recently passed Pete Rose in career hits, if you include his hits from the Japanese League.

Pete Rose was an All-Star in 1985, when he was 44 years old. That was the year he broke Ty Cobb’s all-time record for hits. Despite this accomplishment, it was not a great year for Pete. His ability to hit for any sort of power had greatly deteriorated and he finished the year with 0.6 WAR. At the All-Star break, he was hitting .262/.397/.323, with an OPS+ of 109. Ichiro currently has an OPS+ of 124. Rose was picked as a reserve for the 1985 All-Star game by San Diego manager Dick Williams. Back then, the manager picked all of the reserves and pitchers. Now, MLB players vote on some of the reserves and the manager chooses others.

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Ichiro is every bit as deserving of an All-Star spot as Pete Rose was in 1985. In fact, he’s more deserving of an All-Star spot. Fans will vote for the starters for the 2016 All-Star Game and should vote for the most-deserving players. Admittedly, Ichiro shouldn’t be a starter. That would take a spot from someone who is more deserving. He should get a reserve spot though, so it’s up to MLB players or Mets manager Terry Collins to give Ichiro a spot in this year’s game.

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