Ichiro and the Hall

Pujols makes a lot fewer outs. That's kind of important, too.

 

Pujols ability to get on base, as it was for Barry Bonds, is a byproduct of power. He's more feared because he can do more damage. As I said, it's not to be underestimated and I certainly don't.

 

It isn't just the power, though, just as it wasn't just the power for Bonds. Bonds didn't hit for power on the level Pujols did from day one. He had four seasons of at least 93 walks before the first time he reached 40 home runs.

Pujols isn't Bonds in that regard, but he has always had the patience to go with the power.

 

The power and the walks are interrelated: They both come from an ability to differentiate between pitches that can be driven and pitches that should be left alone.

A hitter like Ichiro sacrifices both power and walks by attempting to put any hittable pitch in play.

This year, Pujols has swung at 42.3% of the pitches he's seen, including 27.8% out of the strike zone. Ichiro is at 50.1 and 35.7.

 

Pitchers pitch far more carefully and are much more willing to walk the guy who's the best overall hitter in the game. There's a reason Albert has led the league in intentional walks the past three years. That's 150 pitches out of the strike zone every year at which Albert doesn't swing. Then you move into the next category of Pujols walk, which is the kind in which a pitcher wants no part of him and might as well have given him the intentional walk. All walks (and all pitches that are called balls) aren't equal in terms of decision-making on the part of the batter. Albert, however, like Bonds, doesn't hurt himself by expanding the zone.

 

Ichiro is in like Frynn.









(Sorry.)

 

Can it be said that Ichiro is one of the five best position players this past decade?

Even if Pujols is better, the point is made that Ichiro is still a special, special player just to be compared with him.

 

No, he's not one of the top 5 position players of the last decade. And people can make any comparison they want, it doesn't make it valid.

Being good at a lot of things isn't as important as being good at the most important things, and he's not that great at the most important ones.

 

Define best.

 

Other than hitting home runs, what does he not do?

He hits.
He runs.
He catches.
He throws.

All very, very well.

 

He's not close to "top 5 of the decade" material in getting on base or getting extra bases, and those are by far the two most important things a position player can do.

Not all things a baseball player can do are of equal importance, or even close.

 

Yes, a hit is much better than a walk.