Fans in Japan keeping count of Ichiro’s hits
Numbers mean so much in baseball. For Ichiro Suzuki last season, the number 3,000 meant a tense path on the way to the hitting milestone, but once reached, a monumental place in the sport’s history.
“I felt like more than myself, people around me came up to me truly different,” Ichiro said Saturday after completing team workouts at Roger Dean Stadium. “Just the fact that 3,000 hits was accomplished, I kind of realized it means a lot to them. More than myself, I think a lot of people felt like it was a great accomplishment.”
Ichiro said the impact from that triple he hit at Colorado’s Coors Field on Aug. 7 for No. 3,000 was noticeable on the streets of Japan this offseason. According to Ichiro, some fans in his home country have often tagged their cars with license plates displaying the numbers of his major hitting milestones such as 3,000 or even 4,308, which is where his combined hits total between the major leagues and Japan stands entering the 2017 season.
“Moving forward, I hope I can make people change even more license plates,” he said.
As for Ichiro himself, the offseason didn’t change much for the future Hall of Famer. The Marlins exercised their player option to retain him and added an additional $2 million option for next season.
Ichiro, who projects again to be the Marlins’ fourth outfielder behind Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna, hit .291 last year with a home run and 22 RBIs in 327 at-bats. Ichiro appeared in 143 games, starting 62.
— Miami Herald