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    I’ve Got a Crush on Ichiro.

    Posted by Sean | April 14, 2008 .

    Ichiro Suzuki is amazing. He is arguably the second best lead-off hitter of all time behind Rickey Henderson. Most of this, in my opinion, is attributed

    to his outstanding batting stance. His stance, unlike most players, places almost all of his weight on the front foot, instead of an even 50/50 weight distribution that most hitters use. The stance not only allows him a 2 to 3 step advantage from contact over other hitters, but allows him almost “place the ball” where he wants it. Batting left handed is also a clear advantage over batting right handed, as you are a step ahead as well. His entire stance in motion is extremely complicated, so I might post a slow motion version later.

    YouTube Preview Image
    SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS AVG OBP
    1993 Orix 43 64 4 12 2 0 1 3 2 7 0 2 .188 .212
    1994 Orix 130 546 111 210 41 5 13 54 51 53 29 7 .385 .445
    1995 Orix 130 524 104 179 23 4 25 80 68 52 49 9 .342 .432
    1996 Orix 130 542 104 193 24 4 16 84 56 57 35 3 .356 .422
    1997 Orix 135 536 94 185 31 4 17 91 62 36 39 4 .345 .414
    1998 Orix 135 506 79 181 36 3 13 71 43 35 11 4 .358 .414
    1999 Orix 103 411 80 141 27 2 21 68 45 46 12 1 .343 .412
    2000 Orix 105 395 73 153 22 1 12 73 54 36 21 1 .387 .460
    JPN Total – 981 3619 658 1278 211 23 118 529 384 333 199 33 .353 .421
    2001 Sea 157 692 127 242 34 8 8 69 30 53 56 14 .350 .381
    2002 Sea 157 647 111 208 27 8 8 51 68 62 31 15 .321 .388
    2003 Sea 159 679 111 212 29 8 13 62 36 69 34 8 .312 .352
    2004 Sea 161 704 101 262 24 5 8 60 49 63 36 11 .372 .414
    2005 Sea 162 679 111 206 21 12 15 68 48 66 33 8 .303 .350
    2006 Sea 161 695 110 224 20 9 9 49 49 71 45 2 .322 .370
    2007 Sea 161 678 111 238 22 7 6 68 49 77 37 8 .351 .396
    2008 Sea 13 55 9 14 2 0 1 3 5 5 1 0 .255 .317
    Total – 1131 4829 791 1606 179 57 68 430 334 466 273 66 .333 .378

    Combined with his seasons in Japan, his 15 seasons and change have allotted 2884 hits. He is without a doubt one of the best hitting lead-off men ever, if not the greatest.

    Is that stance not the greatest stance ever? Who has the greatest baseball stance of all time?

    Sources:

    http://www.youtube.com

    http://www.baseball-reference.com

    http://www.espn.com

    http://rotojournal.blogspot.com

    Posted under Baseball | Like it? Disagree? Leave a comment and tell me.
    1 Comment so far
    1. johnnypadres April 15, 2008 5:01 am

      i can’t argue with you. ichiro is THE BEST. and, quite good-looking too.

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