Ichiro May Have 3,000 Hits But Don’t Forget About His Arm

(Ron Chenoy / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters)

First off, let’s start by congratulating Ichiro Suzuki on an amazing career. He has carried himself with class and dignity the entire time and is well deserving of joining the 3,000 hit club.

However, with all of this attention focused on Ichiro’s newly conquered milestone, people tend to forget some of the other attributes that made him so great. Everyone knows about the swing and the speed but, with the passing of time, many forget about the arm. Ichiro Suzuki had arguably one of the best arms in baseball during a majority of his tenure as an everyday right field. Dave Niehaus once said that an Ichiro throw was “something out of Star Wars” and as the video below shows…he was right.

(Youtube/tsol1967)

Just as an added bonus, here are two videos of Ichiro pitching as well. The first one is from the 1996 Japanese All Star Game where a young Ichiro was clocked at 88mph. The second video is from last season against the Philadelphia Phillies where, remarkably, Ichiro was still throwing in the mid-80s.

Youtube/International Baseball

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H80xg3aCx0A

Youtube/G4MarchMadnessHD

Arigato, Ichiro. The baseball world thanks you.