Oh ya- Murphy.... Suzuki - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

reeds · 06-18-2002, 08:22 PM

Remember last year when I was talking up Ichiro and you said basically it was a fluke- and he wasnt that great...Well, he is leading the league in average and hits.....Are you going to change your tune now???lol

Murphy3 · 06-18-2002, 08:24 PM

reeds.. I will say this:
Ichiro is a much better player this year than he was last year. He's taking the walk more often (which was key... rickey henderson hit in the .220's last year but still had a higher OBP than ichiro).

However, if i said it was a fluke, i was obviously wrong.

You win some you lose some.. hell, i think i came up on the losing end on this one

Drbio · 06-18-2002, 11:04 PM

Ichiro has one of the best eyes in the game.

Murphy3 · 06-18-2002, 11:07 PM

he didn't show it last year..he swung at everything.. but, he hit everything as well

Drbio · 06-19-2002, 06:35 PM

WHAT? He won the damn batting title.

?

Murphy3 · 06-20-2002, 07:48 AM

<< Ichiro has one of the best eyes in the game. >>

he didn't show he had one of the best eyes.. he rarely walked. what he did show was that he could hit any pitch thrown anywhere

Drbio · 06-20-2002, 08:28 AM

This may be spiltting hairs....if he hits every freaking pitch who cares if he walks?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Murphy3 · 06-21-2002, 10:13 AM

well, doc, when you're a leadoff hitter, walking is important.
like i've said, rickey henderson hit around .225 last year but had a better on base percentage than ichiro

i believe frank catalanato had a higher OBP, ..if not, it was definitely close.

TheKid · 06-21-2002, 10:25 AM

well, doc, when you're a leadoff hitter, walking is important.

Exactly, I'm with Murph on this one. When you're the lead off hitter you need to be more patient. Your main objective is to get on base, and that's what made Rickey Henderson so good. That and the fact that he could also hit for power. However Ichiro is doing a fine job making people forget about how great Henderson really was because this dude can HIT HIS ASS OFF. I really haven't seen a player get the bat on the ball as much as Ichiro does. Well maybe Mattingly but back to my original point, leadoff hitters getting walked is very important.

Murphy3 · 06-21-2002, 11:10 AM

thekid, ichiro has been a bit more selective this year..which is why i'm giving him more credit..
last year, as a leadoff hitter, he had a good, but not great by any means OBP...which is extremely important for a leadoff hitter.

this year, he has been much better at getting on base..

and yes, he can hit anything thrown up there

Drbio · 06-21-2002, 02:23 PM

If someone can find it....how about some OBP's for Ichiro, Little Cat, and the top 5 in baseball. I have a feeling Ichiro is in the top 5 in hits, average, runs scored, and other pertinent offensive catagories. I agree with your point about needing your lead off guy to walk more, but Ichiro had to be on base a relatively equal amount to anyone in baseball if not more.

Murphy3 · 06-21-2002, 02:40 PM

this year..he is on base all the time..

last year was a different story..ichiro was only average to slightly above average for a lead off hitter.

he had a great year.. merely stating that he's a much better leadoff hitter this year because he's getting on base much more

TheKid · 06-21-2002, 03:28 PM

I was more stating the point for leadoff hitters in general. Ichiro is a different breed. He can hit everything so it's hard to criticize him, however I was making the statement more because I saw one of the threads say OBP isn't that important and I'm just saying that for a leadoff hitter, it's EXTREMELY important.

Murphy3 · 06-21-2002, 03:31 PM

no, it's not really to say that he's not a great player or didn't have a great year last year..simply saying that he's much better at getting on base this year than he was last year..that's all