Miami Marlins Acquire Veteran Ichiro Suzuki
Veteran Ichiro Suzuki will have another year to try and get into the 3,000 major league hits club. The outfielder has reportedly signed a one-year deal with the Miami Marlins worth around $2 million, according to Ken Rosenthal with FOXSports.com.
The signing was first reported by Sirius XM Radio.
The Marlins have a very impressive young outfield made up of Giancarlo Stanton in right field, Marcell Ozuna in center and Christian Yelich in left. Suzuki will reportedly be the Marlins' first outfielder option off of the bench.
The 41-year-old lefthander started his career in the majors in 2001 with the Seattle Mariners after nine incredible years playing in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league. Suzuki won the AL MVP and Rookie of the Year awards in his first season with the Mariners. Ichiro won a Gold Glove Award in each of his 10 seasons with the Mariners.
He also made 10 consecutive All-Star appearances and won the 2007 All-Star Game MVP award. During that game, Ichiro hit the event's first-ever inside-the-park homerun.
In 2012, Ichiro was traded to the New York Yankees where he continued to add to his major league hitting count, which reached a total of 2,844. When combined with the stats he recorded in the Japanese league, Ichiro has a total of 4,122 professional hits. He is 134 hits shy of Pete Rose's record of 4,256 hits.
Last season, Ichiro hit .284/.324/.340 with 102 hits and 15 stolen bases in 143 games with the Yankees. Ichiro is a career .317 hitter with 10 200-plus-hit seasons. Despite an incredible career, Ichiro has never won a World Series ring.
