Ichiro Suzuki: Where does he rate among Seattle Mariners greats?
With Ichiro Suzuki announcing his retirement, effective immediately, we look at where he ranks among the Mariners all-time greats.
Fans of the Seattle Mariners heard the sad news on Thursday that Ichiro Suzuki has announced his retirement, effective immediately. Rather than play one last time during the team’s current homestand, Ichiro will transition to a front office role. In the interest of full disclosure, I just purchased tickets for Sunday’s game, hoping to see Ichiro get one last at-bat, so I am among the many disappointed fans.
That being said, Ichiro’s exit is that of a proud man who likely didn’t want the fanfare that would surely accompany his final games on the active roster. He didn’t want a farewell tour, like we’ve seen with other great players recently, including David Ortiz and Derek Jeter.
The final at-bat for Ichiro in the big leagues will be a swinging strikeout in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on May 2.
No crying in baseball my ass. https://t.co/GhHW5YrptO
— Jessica Kleinschmidt (@KleinschmidtJD) May 3, 2018
Even though he wasn’t the Ichiro of old this year, he did have a few great moments this season. In the team’s second game of the season on March 31, Ichiro was 2-for-4 with a run scored. He also turned back the clock by robbing Jose Ramirez of a home run when he leaped up against the left-field wall and made a terrific catch.
Ichiro also had two-hit games on April 7 and April 22. It was games like these that fans were hoping for when the Seattle Mariners signed him in the spring. Despite being 44 years old, Ichiro still occasionally resembled the 27-year-old rookie we all loved to watch. Unfortunately, time caught up to him, like it always does.
Now that his career is over, we can gauge where Ichiro ranks among the best players in Seattle Mariners history. According to Fangraphs WAR, He is comfortably in the top five, but not at the top of the pyramid. Here is a look at the five best players in Seattle Mariners history.
Seattle Mariners: Felix Hernandez (51.5 WAR)
So far, Felix Hernandez has the misfortune of joining a Seattle Mariners franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2001, four years before he made his major league debut. Perhaps they can break that streak before his contract is up.
Felix Hernandez is no longer the stud pitcher he once was. He’s more of a number three or number four starter these days. There was a time, though, when he was among the best in the game.
Felix Hernandez had his first great year in 2009 when he was 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA and finished second in AL Cy Young voting. That was his first of six all-star seasons. He won the AL Cy Young Award in 2010, despite finishing with a record of just 13-12.
The award was deserved, though, because Felix led the league in ERA, innings pitched, and WAR. Despite his mediocre record, he was the most valuable pitcher in the AL that season.
In 2012, Felix pitched the only perfect game in the history of the Seattle Mariners. Felix’s perfecto came on August 15, 2012, against the Tampa Bay Rays, with 21,889 fans in attendance, although many more than that will probably claim they were there. At least King’s Court was filled with blue and gold “K” cards.
Felix is still with the Seattle Mariners, but his days of domination are behind hm. His ERA has jumped in each of the last four years, from 2.14 to 3.53 to 3.82 to 4.36 to his current 4.89. When he takes the mound these days, realistic fans aren’t thinking perfect game. They’re just hoping he can get through five or six innings and keep the Seattle Mariners close. Still, despite his recent mediocrity, he’s one of the five best players in Seattle Mariners history.
Randy Johnson (44.3 WAR)
With all due respect to King Felix Hernandez, who has more WAR than Randy Johnson as a Mariner, I put the Big Unit ahead of Hernandez in my Seattle Mariners top five. Johnson became a dominant pitcher with the Seattle Mariners after a few years struggling with his control. He led the AL in walks in his first three full seasons in Seattle.
He finally found the magic in 1993 when he finished second in AL Cy Young voting. He would finish third in Cy Young voting during the shortened 1994 season before winning the award for the first time in 1995 when he was 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA.
That 1995 season was the first time the Seattle Mariners ever made the playoffs, and Randy Johnson was a huge part of it. The 1995 team was powered by Edgar Martinez and Randy Johnson.
The team’s biggest star at the time, Ken Griffey, Jr., was injured when he crashed into a wall in the outfield and only played 72 games. Edgar led the offense by hitting .356/.479/.628 and Johnson led the pitching staff.
The Seattle Mariners were 13 games back on August 2 but went 35-20 down the stretch to catch the California Angels. This led to a one-game playoff in which Johnson faced former Mariner Mark Langston at the Kingdome, with more than 52,000 fans (including me) screaming throughout. Johnson was again his dominant self, and when Luis Sojo cleared the bases late in the game, the Seattle Mariners were playoff-bound.
As important as that game was in Johnson’s career with the Seattle Mariners, he would have an even more critical moment in the ALDS against the Yankees. With the Mariners down two games to none, Johnson started and won Game 3.
The Seattle Mariners won again, the next night, then played an epic Game 5 in which Johnson came out of the bullpen on one day’s rest to pitch the final three innings. When Edgar Martinez hit “The Double,” Randy Johnson picked up the win. He may not have had as much total value as Felix Hernandez, but he was on the mound for more significant moments in Seattle Mariners history, so he gets the number four spot.
Ichiro Suzuki (54.1 WAR)
Ichiro Suzuki came over from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001, having done everything that could be done in Japan. He had already played nine seasons there and had a career .353/.421/.522 batting line with the Orix Blue Wave.
In his first year in MLB, he hit .350/.381/.457 and made the AL All-Star team, won the Silver Slugger Award, the Gold Glove Award, the AL Rookie of the Year Award, and the AL MVP Award.
In his first all-star game, Ichiro faced the man who had worn his jersey number in Seattle before he arrived, Randy Johnson. Ichiro legged out an infield single against the Big Unit, then stole second base. It was as Ichiro as Ichiro could be.
Another tremendous all-star game moment came in 2007 when Ichiro hit an inside-the-park home run against Chris Young on a ball that caromed off the wall in right field. The right fielder who got crossed up on that play was none other than Ken Griffey, Jr.
Ichiro Suzuki made the all-star team in each of the next nine years while leading the league in hits almost every year. Along the way, he broke the single-season record for hits when he banged out 262 of them in 2004 (I was lucky enough to be there). He combined an incredible ability to get hits with high stolen base totals and superlative defense to be one of the team’s best players year after year.
For all of his accomplishments on the field, there was also a dignified grace about the way he played. Every Seattle Mariners fan can mimic the way he stretches and bends while at-bat and in the outfield.
In fact, years after Ichiro left Seattle, I saw some junior high students playing Wiffle Ball one day. One girl came up to bat and immediately did the Ichiro stretches and bends before hitting. How he played the game was as much a part of his legacy as the numbers he put up.
Seattle Mariners: Edgar Martinez (65.5 WAR)
Edgar Martinez didn’t have the name recognition that Griffey had, but for some fans in the northwest (me included), thought he would be at the top of this list. He was reliable, consistent, and dependable, which reads like the comments on the report card of the best student in the class but are true of Edgar Martinez.
If the Seattle Mariners didn’t keep him at Triple-A way too long, he would easily be the franchise leader in WAR. As it was, Edgar didn’t get a full season in the major leagues until he was 27 years old because the team inexplicably thought Jim Presley was better. Once he made it to the Mariners for good, Edgar was incredible.
Edgar Martinez had a 10-year peak from 1992 to 2001 during which he hit .325/.435/.558, with a 158 wRC+ (58 percent better than the average hitter after league and ballpark effects are taken into account). There were only three hitters better than Edgar during this stretch: Barry Bonds (181 wRC+), Mark McGwire (174 wRC+), and Frank Thomas (162 wRC+).
It was during this time that Edgar Martinez hit what is known simply as “The Double” in Seattle. This was in the final game of the 1995 ALDS against the New York Yankees. Edgar came up with the team trailing by a run and runners on first and third.
He ripped a ball to left field to score Joey Cora with the tying run and Ken Griffey, Jr. from first with the winning run. The picture of Griffey at the bottom of the pile is iconic, but it was Edgar who made it happen. It is still considered the biggest hit in franchise history.
During Edgar Martinez Weekend last summer, Edgar became the second Mariner to have his number retired (Griffey was the first). I was at that game in which his jersey officially joined those of Jackie Robinson and Ken Griffey, Jr. in a place of honor at Safeco Field. His speech was terrific, from his acknowledgment of the supportive fans in Seattle to the inappropriate gesture by Jay Buhner while Edgar Martinez was speaking. He is currently the team’s hitting coach.