Ichiro! and Sasaki in the news
From the Japan Times, “Sasaki’s deal with BayStars is the richest ever in NPB” 650m 円, unless I miss my guess, is a shade over $6 million.
And check out this interview with Ichiro! That’s right, it’s an interview with Ichiro!
“It’s important to flex your body muscles, but more important to flex your brain muscles. Veterans have a tendency to be stubborn because they want to believe what they’ve been doing for years is right, but if you do that you can’t move on,” Ichiro said.
“Once you stop looking you stop discovering. I used to think there was nothing new for me to learn, but I didn’t stop searching. And look what happened,” he said.
Man, Ichiro! is cool. Thanks to several readers for the heads-up.
Comments
7 Responses to “Ichiro! and Sasaki in the news”
Two nice entries that discuss the ability of Ichiro! to reflect on his approach are on the Management by Baseball blog.
Here’s a link to another story that emphasizes the point that Ichiro! is not your average ball player: http://cmdr-scott.blogspot.com/2004/12/part-ii-stealing-3rd-ichiro-suzukis.html
Ichiro’s gotta be on ‘roids. But seriously, it’s fun to watch a virtuosic player who doesn’t major in 500-foot explosions. It’ll be interesting to see how his stats compare to Rod Carew’s in a couple of years — I think he’s the closest analog to Carew (or perhaps Wade Boggs?) that we have.
…And how well does Ichiro speak English? I take it that he speaks to the media strictly in Japanese, since he wouldn’t do justice to his possible eloquence, struggling in English.
He’s not really like Wade Boggs at all, apart from the high batting averages. Boggs walked a ton, and hit a lot of doubles, and wasn’t fast; Ichiro doesn’t get on base as often as Boggs, uses his speed to beat out hits and steal bases. Ichiro gets his at bats over with as soon as he gets any pitch he can do something with; Boggs worked the count as much as any non-power hitter can.
If every american used Ichiro!’s approach then the country would be a better place. Specifically if M’s management thought outside their “budget” box once in a while, they’d see that they’re gonna waste the best years of one of baseball’s true greats if they don’t get some quality talent to play next to him.
“…gonna waste the best years of one of baseball’s true greats…” Kinda like they did with Edgar’s last years. Yes, I’m bitter.
I wouldn’t say that Ichiro doesn’t work the count – it’s just that he hits the ball whenever he chooses to swing. It’s not Ichiro not being selective that ends his at-bats early – it’s his bat control.
Which is why it’s so hard to compare Ichiro to other players without using pitch-by-pitch accounts.