Ichiro Suzuki will pursue his quest for 3,000 MLB hits with a new team in 2015. The 41-year-old outfielder is close to an agreement with the Miami Marlins, as first reported by SiriusXM’s Craig Mish.
Hearing Ichiro Suzuki and @Marlins have agreed to terms.
— Craig Mish (@CraigMish) January 23, 2015
Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal soon followed up with news that Suzuki will sign a one-year deal with Miami, reportedly worth $2 million. Suzuki will be the fourth outfielder on the Marlins’ roster, probably the perfect role for him at this point in his career. As Randy Holt recently wrote for TOC, Miami arguably has the best outfield in MLB going into the 2015 season.
Suzuki can still be a productive player, batting. 284 with 15 stolen bases in 385 plate appearances. But as his .664 OPS indicates, his days of being an everyday contributor are long behind him. Yet since he’s unlikely to play a whole lot with a young starting outfield of Giancarlo Stanton (25), Marcell Ozuna (24) and Christian Yelich (23), Suzuki is probably a good fit to fill at any of the three outfield positions when a starter needs rest or manager Mike Redmond decides the lineup needs an extra left-handed bat. He’ll surely also get plenty of pinch-hitting appearances when the pitcher’s turn in the batting order comes up midway through or late into a ballgame.
Ichiro deal with #Marlins unlikely to include option. If he gets close to 3,000 hits (156 away) he would be more enticing as FA next winter.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) January 23, 2015
With 2,884 hits, Suzuki is 116 away from the 3,000-hit milestone. He could conceivably reach that number this season, though compiled only 102 hits last year with the Yankees. Getting at least 400 plate appearances would likely help with that. Additionally, Suzuki has 4,122 hits between his nine seasons in Japan and 14 years in MLB. That leaves him 122 hits away from Pete Rose’s all-time record of 4,256 hits in professional baseball.
As Rosenthal points out, if Suzuki doesn’t get to 3,000 hits this year, being that close to a milestone could make him an appealing signing for a team looking for some easy publicity the following season.
