If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

[stateprop]

Would he have a chance to break Pete Rose Hits record.


My answer yes i honestly believe he would break pete rose record when he is done playing baseball.

I mean look at this article

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Ichiro-Wee-Chiro-tops-Keeler-with-9th-straigh?urn=mlb,189139&post_comment=1&success=1

Ichiro Suzuki(notes) doesn't really have a nickname — "Ichiro" apparently will do, thank you — but if he's looking for one, how about "Mr. 200"?
No player in major league history has racked up more consecutive 200-hit seasons than Ichiro, whose infield single against the Texas Rangers in the second inning Sunday night made it a clean nine for nine.
He's once ... twice ... nine times a two-hundred since coming from Japan in 2001.
With another 200 in the hit bank, Ichiro surpasses a Hall of Famer who has one of the more famous nicknames in baseball history, "Wee" Willie Keeler, who did it from 1894-1901 for the Brooklyn Dodgers franchise.

[SPTO]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

I have to agree with you. I also think if he came into the league at age 20 he'd have put up a stolen base season similar to guys like Willie Wilson and Vince Coleman etc etc did in the '80s.

IMO Ichiro is a lock for the MLB Hall of Fame.

[Mr.Wednesday]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

Good question. If he plays into his 40's, then yes. He would have a chance if he came into MLB at the age of 20. The man is a model of consistency. I just think it's hard to speculate how long he will play considering potential injuries. I guess one can argue he has not had any major injuries so far. But you never know. I will say, if he did start his career at that age, he would have the best shot at it.

[SoxFan01605]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

It's hard to say. By the time he got to the MLB he had lots of experience under his belt, was older, and maybe better equipped to handled the pressure of being a highly touted import, being a hitter, etc. Who knows if he could have handled the culture change and all that goes with it while still learning on the job at the age of 20?

BUT, looking purely at his hit production and looking at his speed, then it's certainly fair to assume it would have been possible.

[BunnyHardaway]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

He'll end up with more hits than Rose and finish with about 3,200 in the MLB.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

He most likely would if he was able to start his career in MLB as a 20-year old. I'm not sure how much his speed will decline as he draws closer to 40, but he has some serious hitting skills that he probably could still hit well by then.

However, my gut feeling says that Ichiro will retire at the end of this season because of "Poor Free Agent Market".

[Mr.Wednesday]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

However, my gut feeling says that Ichiro will retire at the end of this season because of "Poor Free Agent Market".

LOL. I play video games too much.

[CMH]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

I think some stupid team would have kept him in AAA fearing that he wouldn't be able to handle major league pitching.

[rsox]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

However, my gut feeling says that Ichiro will retire at the end of this season because of "Poor Free Agent Market".

Ichiro is signed thru 2012 so the "Poor Free Agent Market" does not affect him.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

Ichiro is signed thru 2012 so the "Poor Free Agent Market" does not affect him.

Why you gotta kill my joke...

[Scottdau]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

Why you gotta kill my joke...

I got your joke. and so did Mario. And my answer is YES! He would have broke it. He is that special player.

[Ewing]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

Ichiro is already a better hitter than Rose ever was in his career.

[snepp]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

Ichiro is already a better hitter than Rose ever was in his career.

.333/.377/.433/.810 OPS+ 117 - Ichiro
.303/.375/.409/.784 OPS+ 118 - Rose

Rose during the same ages as Ichiro in the MLB (27-35):

.319/.395/.444/.839 OPS+ 136

Ichiro's line also doesn't include the inevitable end-of-career decline years. He's the superior base stealer certainly, but there isn't a whole lot to support your particular comment.

[Seahawk76]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

If you count his hits in Japan Ichiro has 3278 hits so far which still puts him almost 1000 behind Rose's 4256. There's a chance that he could end up with more hits than that if he plays into his 40's. It obviously wouldn't be a MLB record but it would still be a great achievement.

Ichiro has the most amazing bat control I've ever seen and his speed allows him to consistently beat out routine ground balls. What worries me is that once those start to decline his hitting may drop off fairly substantially. Ichiro is an absolute fanatic about stretching and conditioning, though, so he may remain near his physical peak longer than most players.

[Knight165]

Re: If Ichiro came into the league at age 20???

It would be close.
Ichiro is a great hitter.
Comparing numbers actually shows that Rose and Suzuki are almost identical(from a hitting standpoint obviously...) as Rose led the league in hits 7 times and Ichiro is heading towards 6.

Here are the numbers for those "prime years"

AB – Rose 5,838 (2), Ichiro 5,728 (6).

R – Rose 994 (4), Ichiro 914.

H – Rose 1,863 (5), Ichiro 1,901 (5*).

2B – Rose 340 (3), Ichiro 209.

3B – Rose 66, Ichiro 67.

HR – Rose 85, Ichiro 78.

RBI – Rose 536, Ichiro 486.

BB – Rose 704 , Ichiro 393.

IBB – Rose 97, Ichiro 135 (2*).

SO – Rose 501, Ichiro 549.

SB – Rose 66, Ichiro 327 (1).

BA – Rose .319 (3), Ichiro .332 (2).

OBP – Rose .395 (1), Ichiro .377.

Slug % – Rose .444, Ichiro .433.

OPS – Rose .839, Ichiro .810.

Total Average – Rose .806, Ichiro .803.

Hit into DP – Rose 100, Ichiro 43.

HBP – Rose 49, Ichiro 42.

MVP – Rose 1, Ichiro 1.

All-Star Games – Rose 8, Ichiro 8.

Gold Gloves – Rose 2, Ichiro 8.

I just don't see where you can make the argument for either player being vastly better than the other(or even better)....they are almost identical!

M.K.
Knight165