Source: Ichiro retiring after today’s game
TOKYO — Ichiro Suzuki has told the Seattle Mariners he will retire after today’s game, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Kyodo News was first to report the story.
Many expected Ichiro to retire after the Japan series or when the Mariners returned home for two spring training games with the San Diego Padres before the regular season resumes against the Boston Red Sox.
Japanese fans had been hoping it would not be the end of his career, but they knew it was likely. In Japan, they also thought that when Ichiro played here in 2012 with the Mariners — also against the Athletics — and had four hits in one game.
When Ichiro played Wednesday, the 45-year-old entered his 19th MLB season after first playing nine seasons with the Orix Blue Wave in the Japanese leagues.
Career line: .311/.355/.402, 509 stolen bases (tied for 35th all-time), 117 home runs, 59.3 WAR.
Hits: 3,089 in MLB (23rd all-time), 1,278 in Japan; his combined total of 4,367 is a world professional record.
MLB Awards: 2001 AL MVP and Rookie of the Year; 10-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove winner.
MLB debut: April 2, 2001
Leading current Japanese stars’ ages when Ichiro debuted: Yu Darvish 14, Masahiro Tanaka 12, Yusei Kikuchi 9, Shohei Ohtani 6
He has had only two hits in 31 at-bats in spring training, including two exhibition games in Japan.
“Seven years ago, it appeared he had played for the last time in Japan,” Fumihiro Fujisawa, head of the Japanese Association of Baseball Research, told The Associated Press. “I don’t think anybody believed he would be active now.”
Ichiro is in the starting lineup for the Mariners against the Oakland Athletics today. Seattle manager Scott Servais had earlier hinted that, after Ichiro started in a season-opening victory against the A’s on Wednesday, he might not start Thursday in the final game of the brief series.
“I wasn’t quite sure,” Servais said. “I thought we’d give him the opportunity to go out there. And I’d love to see him get a couple of hits and finish on a high note here.”
This two-game series marked Suzuki’s second trip back to his home country to play as a major leaguer. Now entering his 19th season in the major leagues after nine seasons spent playing in the Japanese leagues, the future Hall of Famer also played in the 2012 series in Japan — and for the Mariners then as now.