Ichiro: 1st ML Player w/ 10 straight 200-hit seasons

[Oxilon]

TORONTO -- Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki became the first player with 10 straight 200-hit seasons Thursday, breaking his record with a single to center in the fifth inning of the Mariners' game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Suzuki, whose 200 hits are the most in the majors, closed in on the mark with a two-out double to left off Blue Jays right-hander Shawn Hill in the third.

He wasted no time in setting the record, lining a single up the middle on the first pitch he saw from Hill in the fifth.

His teammates came to the top step of the dugout to applaud and Suzuki tipped his cap as the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Suzuki surpassed Willie Keeler with his ninth consecutive 200-hit season last year. Keeler's streak ran from 1894 to 1901.

Suzuki now has more 200-hit seasons than any player in AL history, breaking the record he shared with Detroit's Ty Cobb. Pete Rose is the only other player to record 10 seasons with 200 or more hits.

Suzuki has led the majors in hits in each of the past four seasons, and six times in his 10-year career.

He closed in on the mark with his first four-hit game of the season in Tuesday's series opener, then went 1 for 5 with a single Wednesday.
The Blue Jays won 1-0.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5607807

Pretty remarkable. You can only imagine if he played his entire career in the MLB instead of coming over from Japan when he was 27. He has 2,228 hits as of right now. For the sake of it, lets pretend he started his MLB career when he was 22 and averaged 200 hits a season. That'd be an additional 1,000 hits putting him at 3,228. Right now, he's 36, but the dude is a machine and can easily play atleast another 5 years, if you ask me. That'd be another 1,000 hits if he averages 200 hits a season. That's put him at 4,228, just behind Rose's mark of 4,256.

Just goes to show you how truly remarkable Ichiro is (and Pete Rose for that matter).

[reds1869]

Ichiro is a special player. I love the annual PECOTA projection and accompanying disclaimer from Baseball Prospectus. For those that are unfamiliar, PECOTA always projects Ichiro to put up insanely terrible numbers, and BP always points out he is unique and the system doesn't work for someone who lives off of singles and infield hits. He is a joy to watch.

[Red in Chicago]

Doesn't Ichiro have one of the higher career BABIP's? (I'm no expert on the topic, but seem to recall reading something about it).

Anyway, guess I'm the opposite of reds1869 in that I get little enjoyment out of his game.

[jojo]

Doesn't Ichiro have one of the higher career BABIP's? (I'm no expert on the topic, but seem to recall reading something about it).

Anyway, guess I'm the opposite of reds1869 in that I get little enjoyment out of his game.

He has a career BABIP of .357... but that's not unusual given his game...

[RedsBaron]

Assuming that his average remains above .300 this season, I believe that another player is about to complete an unprecedented streak lasting ten straight seasons. As best as I have been able to determine, no major league player has ever had ten straight seasons in which he hit .300 and had at least 30 HRs and at least 100 RBI--not Babe Ruth, not Lou Gehrig, not Jimmie Foxx, not Hank Aaron. Albert Pujols is on the verge of doing just that.

[Always Red]

Ichiro is simply amazing, and a guy that I LOVE to watch play the game.

He's 36 now, and who knows how much time he has left in the game.

As far as most impact for a short time- I put him on par, or maybe even higher than Sandy Koufax. Ichiro is a sure fire HoF'er.

High BABIP? Well, a guy doesn't get lucky for 10 years in a row, does he? That's his game.

[Brutus]

Doesn't Ichiro have one of the higher career BABIP's? (I'm no expert on the topic, but seem to recall reading something about it).

Anyway, guess I'm the opposite of reds1869 in that I get little enjoyment out of his game.

I'm probably a little bit of a purist, but watching him hit is an absolute treat. His bat control, bat speed and ability to spray the ball to all fields is one of the most impressive things to watch in baseball. To each his own, obviously. But I am surprised anyone could not absolutely love his game.

RE: BABIP, he is a fine example of the ability to carry an above average rate because of his spray chart, speed, ability to bunt, hit line drives, etc.