The Seattle Mariners announced Thursday afternoon that Ichiro Suzuki would be transitioning out of a playing role into a front office position. He will serve as a special assistant to the chairman, effective Thursday, after spending 18 years in the major leagues — the first 11-and-a-half as a Mariner.
Paul Molitor was his hitting coach in 2004, has maintained a relationship with him over the years, but reached out after he landed in Seattle. Ichiro was the AL batting champion in 2004, hitting .372/.414/.455 and breaking George Sisler’s 84-year-old record for most hits in a season with 262. He played in 161 games, batted over .450 for a 56-game stretch and hit over .400 against lefties that year.
“He was the type of guy that really didn’t say much, just let me do my work,” Ichiro told the Pioneer Press in 2016. “Only when I was really going through some hard times would he just say maybe a word or two, just kind of key points that maybe helped me along the way.
“I really realized then that not saying something can be really effective. He was that type. He himself had great numbers and a Hall of Fame career. Having somebody like that be the hitting coach and not say anything but really just help me do my work, then (offering) those little one-liners, really only when necessary, it just left an impact on me.”
How did Molitor communicate with Ichiro, who had only been in America for three years at that point?
“He spoke better English than anybody ever knew,” said Molitor with a smile. “If he didn’t like you, you wouldn’t get much of a response, but he definitely understood it well. Maybe it was a little broken in his speaking back 14 years ago, but I never had any problem with him understanding what I had to say.”
Ichiro was a 10-time All-Star, 2001 Rookie of the Year and AL MVP and has 10 Gold Gloves. Molitor believes he’ll be enshrined in the Hall of Fame one day.
“We all know when he came over here,” said Molitor. “I was surprised, who’s going to come over here after getting 1,000 hits in Japan and add 3,000 more over here? I mean, the odds weren’t in his favor to accomplish as much as he has.”
He won’t be on the field, however, when the Mariners come to town after hitting .205/.255/.205 in 15 games this season. A long ESPN profile written after he signed suggested that the transition would be tough for a player that came to America at age 27 with 1,000 hits to his name, having already played nine years in the Japan.
“It’s impressive any way you look at it,” Molitor said on Opening Day, when asked about Ichiro’s longevity. “To come over here after a fairly long run over there in Japan, and still getting his 3,000th hit here. He told me in 2004 he wanted to play until he was 50, so I’m not surprised that he’s continued to play.”
Wright Thompson, who wrote the ESPN feature on Ichiro, went deep on the Japanese slugger and focused on the difficulty he had finding a job this winter.
“Not even a 44-year-old future Hall of Famer is immune from the insecurities and diminishments that come with time,” wrote Thompson. “This winter is the most insecure and diminished he’s been.”
He reported that Ichiro’s agent, John Boggs, was called “the elephant hunter” by one MLB general manager because of how persistently he hounded all 30 teams, trying to find Ichiro a job.
“Johnny asked me about 50 times when he couldn’t get a job,” said Molitor, who is close friends with Boggs. “Didn’t really see a fit, to be honest with you.”
Ichiro will go to all the games, put on the uniform and take batting practice in his new role, according to Seattle Times beat writer Ryan Divish, in addition to coaching and offering advice to the Seattle players.
“When you’re around that guy, you can see he’s wired differently,” said Molitor. “There was something about getting that uniform on, it really stood out to me how much he enjoyed just going out there. He loved the routine of taking his swings in the cage every day. Just the anticipation of the first pitch every night and him being in the batter’s box, it was something special to watch him do that.”
Roy Smalley, who was in Chicago to call the game for Fox Sports North, said that Ichiro’s batting practice is a sight to see — and displayed a different side of his game.
“He hit some of the longest home runs in batting practice I think I’ve ever seen,” said the former Twins shortstop. “In the old Metrodome, he’d hit balls in the third deck that very few people ever hit up there.”
“He’s one of those classic guys that you have that debate: Do you want him to hit .350 and hit 10 homers or try and go ahead and see if he can hit 40 or 50?,” Molitor said. “He didn’t have a huge vector of where his power was, but to watch him pepper those windows in Seattle every day, it gets your attention.”
Dipoto made it clear that Ichiro had not been placed on the voluntary retirement list, according to Divish. Boggs said he is not retiring.
“I think his dream to play until he was 50 might not happen,” said Molitor, who added that he heard Ichiro might go back to Japan for a short stint. “There’s a lot in that resume that few people are going to be able to compare with. It looks like he’s going to be in transition mode.”
A transition that those who know him best say will be very difficult for one of the best that ever played the game.
