One of my favorite enduring baseball myths is that Ichiro Suzuki, if he had decided to do it, could have hit home runs at a very high rate. In theory, of course, he’d be sacrificing his contact and hit rates, and he obviously felt (or was rumored to feel) that he’d be a more valuable player keeping his power in check.
How much of that should you believe? Hard to say. But if any player deserves mythological status, it’s Ichiro, just because he’s so much fun, and has been ever since he came over from Japan in 2001, immediately winning MVP and Rookie of the Year. But at a certain point, don’t you think someone may have mentioned that hey, home runs are good, too? He only reached double digits in homers three times in his career, after all. Still, he also racked up 3000+ hits despite not playing an American inning until the age of 27, so, who knows?
Plus there’s things like this bomb he launched today off of a good pitcher, Aaron Nola:
Good heavens, that ball was absolutely launched. Ichiro is 43 now, too, and while his prime days are very clearly behind him (he’s been below replacement level this season), the fact that he can still do things like that now helps to keep the myth alive that maybe, 15 years ago, he really could have hit fifty home runs in a season if he’d decided to do it. Why not? Few players have ever been as skilled with a bat in their hands, after all.
