Just 29 Major League Baseball players in the history of the sport have reached 3,000 hits in their career. The 30th player is closing in quickly on that milestone. Ichiro Suzuki, the 42-year old outfielder for the Miami Marlins is just six hits short of the big milestone, after recording 3 hits in Sunday’s game.
During the Marlins win of 6-3 on Sunday over the St. Louis Cardinals, Suzuki went 3 for 4 that included a base on balls, double and steal.
The day was big for Suzuki as it moved him just six hits shy of the mark of 3,000 for his MLB career. Ichiro reaching the milestone is quite an amazing story in itself. He did not even start his major league baseball career until he was 27. He had 1,278 hits in the Nippon Pro league in Japan prior to joining the Seattle Marlins 15 years ago.
Otherwise, through every season up to 2012, he played 157 or more games.
This season has been quite productive for Ichiro and reaching the 3,000-hit mark will be a huge feather in his cap. The Marlins will play Philadelphia on the road next and Phillies pitching is allowing a batting average by opponents of .263, which is above the league average of .254.
The two teams will be playing four games so there is the possibility Ichiro will reach the 3,000-hit mark during the series in Philadelphia.
Of course, following those four games on the road, the Marlins return home to South Florida for a homestand of 10 games. Surely the team would rather he wait to hit number 3,000 while at home. Regardless of where that milestone happens, it will be quite soon barring any unforeseen slump on his part.
This season, Ichiro is batting .347 with just 12 RBIs and no home runs. He has 59 hits in 170 official at bats with just 15 strikeouts in a limited role with the Marlins under new manager Don Mattingly.
Nevertheless, the veteran from Japan will soon break the 3,000 mark. Earlier in the season, he broke the all-time hits mark held by Pete Rose, but with little fanfare, since his first 1.278 hits were in Japan and not the U.S.
