Seattle Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki will likely retire after the team’s current homestand, ending his 18-year, Hall of Fame career.
According to Brad Adam of Root Sports, it’s likely the great Ichiro Suzuki will retire at the end of the Seattle Mariners current homestand. Adam revealed the information he received through texts with Ichiro during an appearance on 950 KJR radio in Seattle.
Ichiro Suzuki was signed by the Mariners after outfielder Ben Gamel was injured more than a month ago. Gamel is healthy now, and the team has been doing roster gymnastics to keep Ichiro on the big league roster, but it was not in the best interest of the ballclub.
As the teams’ fourth outfielder, the 44-year-old Ichiro Suzuki is hitting .220/.256/.220. That’s a 35 wRC+, meaning he’s been 65 percent below average as a hitter when league and ballpark effects are taken into account.
He’s not ripping line drives or smacking ground balls through the hole at shortstop like he once did. He also isn’t as fast on the bases or adept in the outfield as he once was. Father Time can only be held back so long, and it looks like age has finally caught up to Ichiro.
This is expected to be Ichiro Suzuki's last homestand with the @Mariners. Ichiro is good with the decision and does want to retire with Seattle Mariners. Get your tickets now, you won't want to miss it. pic.twitter.com/ZWjBU0f7bK
— Russell Hartness (@RussellHartness) May 1, 2018
This move comes a little later than it should have. When the Seattle Mariners activated Erasmo Ramirez from the DL on April 22, they sent down outfielder Guillermo Heredia rather than Ichiro. The move didn’t make sense from a competitive standpoint because Heredia is younger and better than Ichiro, but the team chose to keep the veteran.
It’s easy to see why. By all accounts, Ichiro is an extremely hard worker and a good guy to have on the roster.
Unfortunately for longtime Ichiro fans, the time has come to let him go. Heredia has been hitting well in Triple-A and is projected to be better than Ichiro going forward. Heredia also hits right-handed, which makes him a better compliment to lefty-hitting Ben Gamel in left field than the left-handed-hitting Ichiro. Heredia is also a better option to back up Dee Gordon in center field.
The Mariners have been surprisingly good so far this year, with a record of 17-11. They sit just 1.5 games behind Houston in the AL West. This is a roster that has plenty of veterans and is in “win-now” mode. The simple truth is that Heredia helps them more than Ichiro.
The Fangraphs Depth Charts have the Mariners projected to win 84 games, which puts them right in the mix for the second wild-card spot with the Blue Jays (87-75 projected record) and Angels (86-76 projected record).
The current homestand for the Seattle Mariners includes two more games against the Oakland Athletics and three over the weekend against the Los Angeles Angels. It’s rumored that Ichiro will start Saturday’s game against Japanese sensation Shohei Ohtani. It would be a fitting “passing of the torch” from one great Japanese player to another.
If this is indeed the end, Ichiro leaves behind an impressive legacy. He came to Seattle as a 27-year-old and immediately led the league in hits, steals, and batting average while winning the AL MVP and AL Rookie of the Year Awards.
The Seattle Mariners had recently lost three Hall of Fame caliber players in Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Alex Rodriguez. Ichiro joined the team, and the Mariners tied the single-season record for wins, going 116-46.
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Ichiro was also a Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger winner that season. He led the league in batting average again in 2004, when he put up an incredible .372 mark and set the single-season record for hits, with 262.
He finishes his career 22nd on the all-time list for hits, despite getting such a late start to his major league career because of his time in Japan.
If you combine his MLB stats and his NPB stats from Japan, Ichiro has an incredible 4367 career hits (Pete Rose has 4256 in 24 major league seasons).
In a perfect world, Ichiro will start against Ohtani on Saturday and, at some point, leg out an infield single, steal second, move to third on a ground ball and score on a sacrifice fly. Maybe he’ll get a chance to show off that cannon by throwing a runner out on the bases or make a terrific catch at the wall.
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Whatever happens during the game, when Ichiro Suzuki walks off the field for the last time, Seattle Mariners fans will give him a well-deserved standing ovation for everything he’s accomplished during his time here.