Ichiro Suzuki is one of the greatest hitters in Japanese and MLB history. The soon-to-be first ballot Hall of Famer finished his career in the Majors having posted 3,089 hits while earning 10 All-Star appearances and an AL MVP in the process.
So, why does Ichiro sound like a rookie making his debut after dominating a women’s high school All-Star baseball team? Well, it’s two-fold. He actually did just that at the age of 50. Meanwhile, women’s baseball is becoming something of a second pastime in Japan.
Ichiro joined the likes of former MLB star Daisuke Matsuzaka in taking on the best high school girls baseball players in Japan for his annual All-Star Game inside the Tokyo Dome Tuesday night.
Unlike his career as a star hitter, Suzuki took to the bump against the cast of All-Stars. He dominated, too. The dude pitched a complete game shutout on 116 pitches. He struck out nine while walking two and giving up just five hits in a 4-0 win. Suzuki also managed to get his fast ball up to 86 miles-per-hour.
As noted above, Ichiro also delivered two hits from the plate. He had failed to hit safely in the first two games of the exhibition slate, eliciting a pretty hilarious response in the process.
“Personally, I’m glad that it was a hit. I was so happy,” Ichiro said after the game (h/t MLB.com). “I’ve had some decent hits as a professional, so I was frustrated and frustrated. I set a goal of one as a batter no matter what. I’m so happy.”
Ichiro Suzuki MLB stats: .311 average, 117 HR, 780 RBI, 509 SB, .757 OPS
Sazuki is not wrong in that he had some success at the plate in the Majors. For a seven-year span from his rookie season in 2001 to 2007, the Japanese sensation hit .334. He was Shohei Ohtani before we knew Shohei Ohtani existed.
As for Japan, the women’s baseball game has taken on new meaning. It is ranked No. 1 in the world ahead of next year’s Women’s Baseball World Cup. A total of 23,000 women now play the game across 102 different teams in Japan.
Talk about really cool stuff.