Ichiro
You probably haven't noticed because his team is 30 games under .500, but Ichiro of the Seattle Mariners -- you've got to love guys who are good enough to go by one name on first reference -- is having an incredible year. He batted .463 in August and a pedestrian .432 in July. And .400 in May. He has 214 hits through Wednesday's game in Toronto and is on pace to break George Sisler's record of 257 hits in a season. He's a unique player. Few hit the ball harder than Ichiro, but his work is limited almost exclusively to singles. Former UNC star Brian Roberts (.282 on the year) actually has more extra-base knocks than Ichiro (43 to 34). What strikes you about this guy?
Comments (2)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Here's what strikes me: As much fun as it is to watch Ichiro slice and dice every pitch, whether in his eyes or at his ankles, he's quickly on his way to becoming the most overrated hitter since Wade Boggs.
Ichiro's slugging %age is woeful (.468) and he's neither scoring a ton of runs (84 is ehh for a leadoff hitter) nor driving in many (51). and he doesn't walk. So his hits are mostly pointless, like the majority of the 3,000 or so that Boggs piled up.
Posted on September 2, 2004 3:33 PM
Jeff's post begs the question, "Are athletes worthy of greatness if their feats are performed in a vacuum?" In my mind, you can't penalize a player for ending up on a lousy team. Ichiro's so-so runs-scored numbers aren't, for the most part, his fault. Yet he's doing what he's paid to do: get on base.
On another note, the similarity between Ichiro and Wade Boggs need not be confined to at-bats. They have two of the cooler and more memorable names in major-league baseball.
Posted on September 7, 2004 10:27 PM