Ichiro Suzuki’s Continued Impact on Japanese Baseball: A Legend on the Mound and at the Plate

Even at 50 years old, Ichiro Suzuki continues to captivate fans on the baseball field. These days, the future Hall of Famer is giving back to the baseball community in his home country by teaching the next generation of Japanese players.

Two weeks ago, he stopped by a high school to give some advice and hit a home run that broke a classroom window. (The school hired a contractor to carefully remove the window without further damaging it so it could be preserved as a memento of the legend’s visit.)

On Tuesday Ichiro Suzuki He did it again, as he and a team of former professionals faced off against an all-star team of high school students in an exhibition game at the Tokyo Dome. The game was just for fun, but Ichiro still played to win, pitching a complete scoreless game, allowing 5 hits with 2 walks and 9 strikeouts.

Suzuki threw a total of 116 pitches and his fastball was around 86 miles even though he is 50 years old.

50-year-old Ichiro Suzuki pitched a complete-game shutout on 116 pitches against a high school girls team today. He had nine strikeouts, topping out at 86 MPH

He went 2-for-5 at the plate with a double pic.twitter.com/p1Mu1PiOWN

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) November 21, 2023

It should be noted that he also went 2 for 5 from the batter’s box, his swing can still do damage although not at the highest level.

Despite collecting a combined 4,367 career hits in Japan and the majors, Ichiro was still slotted into the traditional pitcher’s spot in the lineup, ninth. This is the second time Suzuki has played an exhibition match against a women’s team at the Tokyo Dome. Last year’s first game was conceived as a way to boost female participation in the sport.

It should be noted that Ichiro Suzuki He also pitched a complete game in last year’s game, striking out 14. But he allowed one run in the first inning after allowing a triple to An Morisaki.

2023-11-22 04:15:04
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