Ichiro is Forgotten - The Seattle Center Fielder is Impressive and Underappreciated

How it must feel to be great and forgotten in Seattle. As the Mariners continue to roll along and stay competitive for the AL West and the Wild Card, we are reminded that their best player is, without any argument or question, Ichiro Suzuki. And still he gets little to no fanfare and the famous sports station that is becoming a four letter word pays no attention because he resides on the West Coast. But when you stop to pay attention you'll see that you are watching one of, if not the greatest player of this decade.

Ichiro never had to play ball in the states. He was comfortable being a national phenomenon in his native country of Japan. He accumulated over 1000 hits and was the premiere player of his country, but the thrill of playing in the very best league in all the world was a little too attractive for him to stay local.

His rookie year he managed 242 hits and finished the year batting .350. Since then, every year has been only a slight variation of the same season. To date, including this year, he is just shy of 1500 hits and boasts a career batting average of .333. His down year? He batted a paltry .303 and only 206 hits. To date he has never had a season with less than 200 hits. His highest strikeout total in a season? 71. It's almost impossible to keep Ichiro from making contact and with the immense speed he possesses, it's quite reasonable to understand why he consistently averages over 30 stolen bases a season.

His defense is superb. He's won multiple gold gloves and he's been elected to 7 all star teams, so why don't we care. Certainly the awards and voting are a sign of recognition, but when it comes down to it, it's the fans in Japan that boost him into the all star game and it's sportswriters that give him gold gloves. So where is the casual fan appreciation for someone who might be the best pure hitter we've ever seen. A-Rod is the best overall player we've ever seen, but Ichiro is a superior hitter with power numbers that he doesn't show because it isn't what he's asked to do.