Thursday, July 26, 2012

Ichiro Suzuki: is he the most overrated player this millennium?

Ichiro Suzuki received 48% of the fan vote responding to the question of the game yesterday: which of four players recently acquired by contenders would have the greatest impact.  Hanley Ramirez was second with 38%.

As a Yankee fan I'm embarrassed.  Ichiro?  The Yankees don't even need Ichiro.  I don't know why they acquired him.  His numbers are way down in 2012: .262 BA, .290 OBP and OPS+ 83.  His career OPS+ is only 113.  2011 .272 BA, .310 OBP.  That sucks.

It's batting average (BA), the venerable baseball stat that won't die.  Ichiro has .322 career BA with a modest .366 OBP, which is really low considering his BA.  Plus, Ichiro led the American conference two of his first four seasons: .350 and .372.  Also, .351 and .352 in later seasons.  People are still really impressed with BA.

But the guy does not walk and does not hit home runs.  He gets on base.

On Base Percentage career: Ichiro is tied at number 366 with two Jasons: Kendall and Thompson.  Derek Jeter, another get on base guy, is number 158.

Yankee fans, wake the heck up!

1 comment:

Cliff Blau said...

Not only doesn't he hit home runs, he hardly hits doubles or triples, either. Career isolated power under .100. He used to be fast enough to stay out of DPs, but not any more. Still a decent fielder.