Friday, August 23, 2013

Ichiro Suzuki v. Hideki Matsui.

Who was a better hitter in the U.S. major league: Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui?

Ichiro Suzuki Born: October 22, 1973 in Nichi Kasugai-gun, Aichi, Japan    2001- 2013: active
Hideki Matsui Born: June 12, 1974 in Ishikawa, Japan    2003-2012: retired

Seattle traded Suzuki to the Yankees July 23, 2012 where he now plays.  Suzuki is actually older than Matsui who essentially retired after playing only 34 games in 2012 for Tampa.  To his credit Suzuki has played in 2,030 games while Matsui played in only 1,236 games.  It might seem a little odd to compare them but let's see what we get.

Obviously Suzuki is a better all around player than Matsui who started to break down physically after leading the American Conference in games in each of his first three years playing for the Yankees.  Here are some batting numbers.

OBA:
Suzuki: .362
Matsui: .360

SLG:
Suzuki: .416
Matsui: .462

OPS:
Suzuki: .778
Matsui: .822

OPS+:
Suzuki: 112
Matsui: 118

Matsui wins the career averages.
_________________________________

Season high averages:

OBA:
Suzuki: .414
Matsui: .390

SLG:
Suzuki: .457
Matsui: .522

OPS:
Suzuki: .851
Matsui: .912

OPS+:
Suzuki: 130
Matsui: 137

Matsui dominates the season high averages.
____________________________

Season high totals:

Hits:
Suzuki: 262
Matsui: 192

2B
Suzuki: 34
Matsui: 45

3B
Suzuki: 12
Matsui: 4

HR
Suzuki: 15
Matsui: 31

TB
Suzuki: 320
Matsui: 305

Overall I'm leaning towards Matsui.  How about you?

1 comment:

Karen said...

Excellent analysis of two very different kinds of players - but I admire them both!