Photo: John Froschauer/Icon Sportswire
As we’ve done with Scott Rolen and Adrian Beltré the last two years, we wanted to tell the story of new Hall-of-Famer Ichiro Suzuki’s defensive excellence through those who saw him close-up.
Over the last couple of months, we talked to several of Ichiro’s teammates, rivals, and former managers to get a better sense of his defensive legacy.
Our tale begins with a scene from Ichiro’s Japanese rookie season, when he was an 18-year-old kid with the Orix Blue Wave in Nippon Professional Baseball.
Kelvin Torve, ex major leaguer and Orix Blue Wave teammate (1992-1993) – “I get to the ballpark and go down to the field to stretch. Ichiro’s standing in center field by himself. He’s got his hat over his heart and he’s facing the center field stands, screaming at the top of his lungs for 5, 10 minutes.
I asked our interpreter, ‘What’s gotten into Ichiro?’ And he said that yesterday there was a fly ball behind second base. Ichiro and our second baseman ran into each other.
So, what Ichiro was screaming was ‘My name is Ichiro Suzuki and I’m learning to use my voice.’ It was a punishment.
I coach American Legion baseball in South Dakota now and I use that story with my outfielders – that if you don’t talk, I’d hate to do what did to Ichiro. It was a teaching lesson for him and a coaching lesson for me.”
The message gets through to Torve’s outfielders and it certainly got through to Ichiro by the time he joined the Mariners in 2001 after nine seasons in Japan.
Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs – “He was so disciplined. He did everything right.
Before he was posted and signed with the Mariners, he came here for a few days in 1999 to work out with the ballclub. I’ll never forget. He went out to right field with Jay Buhner and was taking outfield practice.
I saw a fly ball to right field. He grabs it and throws a seed to home plate. And it had such my life on it. And it was accurate, so accurate. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Who is this guy? If he hits a baseball as well as he throws one, he’s going to be a great player.’”
There were two components to Ichiro’s excellence – preparation and execution.
Regarding the former, one of the things Ichiro told his teammates about was the importance of a Japanese word, ‘kaizen.’
Mike Cameron (Mariners teammate, 2001-2003): “It is a Japanese business philosophy to emphasize continuous improvement across an organization. The goal of Kaizen is to gradually improve processes, products, and services. Always improving, continuously working, no matter good or bad.
By the time he got to the ballpark, he had already probably worked out one time and then he would come to the ballpark, he would get the massage then he would go through another training workout with those special machines.
I tried to do it a couple of times and I was sore for two weeks. My body wasn’t accustomed to it. But those machines were made for him and the movements he’d want to have over the course of time.”
Willie Fraser (Orix teammate, 1996-1998): “I’ve never seen anyone stretch as much as him.”
Casey Kotchman (Mariners teammate, 2010; also once thrown out at home plate by Ichiro): “He really reaped what he sowed as far as all the work that he put in. He was always working and getting ready for his next move to put himself in a position of success.”
Doug Jennings (Orix teammate, 1995-1997): “He was the hardest-working superstar I ever played with.”
Willie Bloomquist (Mariners teammate, 2002-2008): “He’d take his shoes off and he’d have this little wooden tool that he would dig into his feet. He was a big believer in keeping his feet healthy and loose. He would dig this little wooden tool into his feet and then he would sit, his ankles would be up on his thighs. He’d sit there reading and eating his rice ball with a plum in the middle of it. He’d do that every day.”
Cameron: “I used to tell him every day, make sure his wife makes two extra rice balls. Because I want to try it.”
He took care of himself as well as he could take care of himself. He ate the right foods and got the proper rest. His preparation, concentration and determination were top notch.”
Bob Melvin (Mariners manager, 2003-2004) “Everything he did, starting with when he woke up in the morning, was all about preparing for a game. The work ethic made him who he is.”
John McLaren (Mariners manager, 2007-2008): “He would take balls off the bat in batting practice. A lot of outfielders do that. He did it to the extreme.”
Melvin: “Whether it was balls off the wall or balls in the gap, he was like a handball player. The ball was hit, and he knew where it was going to go.”
And Ichiro could catch it too. You don’t post a standard-setting 30 Runs Saved in a season in right field (as he did in 2004) without making some improbable defensive plays.
Bloomquist: “He never made a bad route to a baseball.
He covered a lot of ground. He never dove head-first for a ball in all the years I saw him play. That frustrated some teammates every once in a while. But his philosophy was that he was faster running through than he was diving or sliding. I asked him once, ‘Why don’t you dive?’ And he said ‘Do you ever see a sprinter diving through the finish line?
When you heard him, it made sense. He was the guy that you knew that if it was hit anywhere out there, it’s an out.”
Cameron: “He was playing so fast, but he played so poised. He was twisting and bending and everything and he never allowed his hat to come his head either. He’d hold onto his hat while making plays.
I used to try to get him to dance all the time. I called him the dancing cat, because he could bounce around, he could climb walls, and he had amazing flexibility. But he couldn’t dance a lick. I would die laughing when we’d try to get him to dance.”
Arguably Ichiro’s best catch came in 2005 against the Angels, robbing Garret Anderson of a two-run home run.
Cameron: “I saw him make plays that were crazy. His back to the fence in right field, jumping into the wall like Spiderman and reaching back, holding onto the ball and catching the ball over his right shoulder. That’s so hard.”
Bloomquist: “He had to twist his body around and still caught it over the top of the wall.”
Ichiro didn’t just track balls down. In his early years, He could throw better than any outfielder in MLB.
Melvin: “Off the charts: 80 arm, 80 accuracy. It was all wrapped in one package that was about as perfect as you get.”
Kotchman: “A cannon.”
Jennings: “Him and our left fielder, So Taguchi, had such remarkable arm strength. One of the things they would do between innings is throw the ball from corner to corner in long toss. They did it to thrill the fans, see how far they could throw the ball.”
Rizzs: “He threw with every inch of his body, from his toes to the tip of his cap to his fingertips. That’s why he was able to get that incredible whip and backspin on the ball to make it so true and never had a hump on it.”
Kotchman: “He threw the ball straight and true. Some outfielders or infielders will cut it or sink it, and it doesn’t have a nice ball flight. His ball would just really take off.”
Ichiro’s signature defensive play happened in his eighth major league game, a throw from right field to third base to nail Terrence Long of the A’s.
McLaren: “I can see it like it was yesterday.”
Melvin: “That’s when it all came into play. Reading the ball off the bat, charging the ball quickly, corralling it really quickly, getting rid of it with his arm strength. I think that particular play showed baseball, that’s a guy you’re not going to run on.”
McLaren: “He threw one knee-high to David Bell. Bell didn’t move his glove.”
Ichiro passed on his knowledge about how to play defense to his teammates, including Cameron, who won his first Gold Glove Award in Ichiro’s rookie MLB season, 2001.
Cameron: “We had an instant chemistry playing amongst each other. I understood him, he understood me.
“He told me about what I needed to start using body-wise when I threw and we worked on it every day. Every day. I used to get on top of the ball. He helped me lower my arm angle, which allowed it to have more accuracy. He made me use my lat and my back and my torso a lot more. He forced me to improve those things. He made my arm more accurate and stronger, and I got better as an outfielder.”
Ichiro was that rare player who was a baseball phenomenon. His popularity was off the charts, both with the American and Japanese baseball audience.
Cameron: “It was almost like I got a chance to play with Michael Jordan, baseball-wise.”
Melvin: “A big part of what he did was entertain people that came to watch him. That’s why he never wanted to take a day off.”
Cameron: “I’ve never seen a baseball player with that much cachet. When Ichiro showed up, the madness that he created was unbelievable.”
Melvin: “He felt like if someone was there to watch him on that day and he wasn’t performing, he wasn’t doing his job. The first time I tried to give him a day off, I told him when it was gonna be. We were in Chicago, and I said, ‘Look, just try to take it easy. Come out here in the seventh or eighth inning and see if I need you.’
Fifteen minutes before the game, he’s sitting on the bench, gloves on, he’s got his bat next to him, rocking up and down. Right then, a kid walked by wearing an Ichiro jersey. Ichiro didn’t even say anything. He just nodded his head to the kid, and I got it. That was part of who he was. He felt he needed to be out there to entertain the people who came to watch him.”
Ichiro finished his MLB career with more than 3,000 hits, 500 stolen bases, 10 Gold Glove Awards, and three Fielding Bible Awards in over 2,600 games. His defense made him a complete major league player. Now, he still plays and coaches in Japan. When he’s in Seattle, he’s Julio Rodriguez’s pre-game throwing partner. He can’t help but stay connected to the game.
Melvin: “He’s one of a kind. Probably one of my favorite guys ever.”
Cameron: “It was a gift to see and play with him. He was special. So special.”
