Japan’s Ichiro Suzuki will continue his quest for a 3,000th Major League Baseball hit in Miami next season after inking a new one-year deal with the Marlins on Tuesday.
The iconic outfielder, who will turn 42 on October 22, is just 65 hits shy of 3,000 after his 15th Major League season.
He is tied with Barry Bonds for 33rd on MLB’s all-time hit list, and including his nine seasons in Japan has 4,213 hits as a professional — a tally that surpasses the 4,191 career total of US legend Ty Cobb — a Hall of Famer from a century ago who ranks second on the all-time major league career hit list to Pete Rose (4,256).
The Marlins, who inked the 10-time All-Star to a one-year deal prior to the 2015 season, had said all along they would be open to bringing him back again.
“Off the field, I’d have to say Ichiro is one of the most interesting players that I’ve personally come across since I’ve been in this game,” Marlins president David Samson said.
“Forget his love of the game, the fact that he’s in the best shape of any player I’ve seen at any age. Forget the fact that he’s 41, his desire (is) to play baseball the right way — to be respectful of Major League Baseball, to be respectful for the other players, and the game itself.”
Although his role was to be the Marlins’ backup outfielder, Suzuki ended up pacing the club in games played with 153.
He stole the show in Sunday’s season-finale, pitching the eighth inning of a game Miami lost 7-2 to the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Taking the mound was a long-held ambition, but it’s as a hitter that Suzuki established himself as one of the game’s greats, in Japan and North America.
In 2001, he became the first Japanese position player in Major League history, debuting with the Seattle Mariners and earning American League Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors.
He opened his US career with 10 straight seasons of more than 200 hits.
In 2015, he had 91 hits in 398 at-bats, posting a .229 batting average with 21 runs batted in and 11 stolen bases.