Ichiro Suzuki has played in his last MLB game. But he’s taken an on field job with the Seattle Mariners, in addition to his front office job.
The club released a statement on Tuesday (per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times) announcing that that Ichiro will serve as an instructor for the Mariners and their AAA team.
Based on his on-field qualifications, it’s hard to imagine a much better coach.
In his MLB career alone, Ichiro recorded 3,089 career hits, a .311/.355/.416 slash line, 509 stolen bases, and won 10 Gold Glove Awards. That doesn’t even factor in anything he did in Japan before coming to the majors in 2001, when he was already 27.
If Ichiro can coach those parts of the game anywhere near as well as he played them, the Mariners will have a fantastic instructor.