Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki has taken the career path far less traveled, and that has led to uncertainty regarding just how good he really is.
While most prominent stars crack major league lineups in their early 20s after going through the minors, Ichiro cracked the Mariners lineup at age 27 after establishing his game in Japan.
Most potential stars have entered the majors with far less experience than Ichiro. So does that take away from his accomplishments? Does that mean that he is overrated? Could he possibly be underrated?
Let's figure it out.
Ichiro has the most hits ever for a player in his first 10 seasons with 2,244, beating out Paul Waner by 208 and Kirby Puckett by 248.
Some point out that isn't a fair stat because Ichiro's first season was at age 27, arguably the prime of his career.
Okay, fine.
Look at just age then. The leader for most hits between the age of 27 and 35 is, of course, Ichiro, with somewhere over 2,000 (The list I found had Ichiro at 2,000 in September of 2009, and he had another month to go that season before his 36th birthday). The next closest is Pete Rose with 1,863.
Oh, and by the way, Ichiro is just the second player ever to record 10 200-hit seasons, even though he started his career late.
Sure, some of his numbers might be skewed because his PA numbers are higher than most, but to leave this guy out of the discussion when debating the best hitters ever would be a mistake.
Point: underrated.
A major reason those PA numbers are so high is the fact that he amazingly avoids injury. Besides 2009, when he played in "only" 146 games, he has never played in less than 150. The man is almost as machine-like as Albert Pujols. Being able to stay so healthy for so long at such an age is truly remarkable, and most people don't realize that.
Point: underrated.
Now, let's take a look at Ichiro's career awards: 10 All-Star appearances in 10 years, 10 Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards, one MVP and one Rookie of the Year Award.
You can't get much more respect than that.
Point: correctly rated.
How about those who "watch" the game for a living?
In January of 2010, Sporting News conducted a survey of MLB GMs, and Ichiro received both "best outfield arm" and "best leadoff hitter."
No argument here, although Ichiro's arm isn't what it once was 10 years ago. No lack of respect from the GMs.
Point: correctly rated.
With Ichiro's accomplishments, he would almost have to be anointed the best player in major league history to be overrated. I, for one, have never heard that claim. So let us just throw the overrated tag out the proverbial window.
So now the question remains, is Ichiro correctly rated or underrated?
Simply put, Ichiro gets attention, and while it might seem that he is slightly underrated, he is just losing exposure right now because he plays for a terrible team. It's not that everyone chooses to ignore Ichiro, they choose to ignore the Mariners.
Ichiro is having a brilliantly different (late start, tons of hits, great defense, great speed, lack of power, lack of patience at the plate) career, and that makes some people underrate him.
But when it comes to those who truly understand baseball, Ichiro is rated just right.
Sources
Baseball Almanac - Hit records
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