We read other teams rumors about their search for a leadoff hitter, but we could never really relate to that.
Up until last year, Ichiro did pretty much everything one would want from a leadoff hitter. From 2001-2010 he hit .331/.376/.430 making himself one of the most dynamic hitters in the game. He hit for a high average, got on base, and was fast. Boy was he fast.
We all know what happened last year. His age seemingly caught up to him as he hit a un-Ichiro .272/.310/.335. There was talk that he could be moved out of leadoff next year, but I never exactly pondered the idea.
Tonight, we got confirmation that there is a "good "possibility" Ichiro won't be hitting first for the Mariners.
My eyebrows raised a little bit, but I guess it makes sense on paper. The leadoff spot is about getting on base, and setting up the table for big hitters that can drive runners in with extra base hits. Ichiro was not that last year.
For me, the biggest key to the leadoff position is getting on base. The Mariners leaders last year in on-base-percentage were Dustin Ackley, Jack Cust, Mike Carp, Justin Smoak, Brendan Ryan, Milton Bradley, and Kyle Seager. So assuming no more significant hitters are coming in via trade, I think the most logical choice for the leadoff spot is Dustin Ackley. We know he can get on base, hit for average, run the bases, and hit for a little bit of power. Dustin Ackley can actually do everything.
So who would hit #2? Well, this might be a topic for another day once we find out for sure who is hitting leadoff for the Seattle Mariners. Wedge has talked about Ryan and Gutierrez there, which makes a little sense, but not much. I would prefer someone like Seager there. He can pretty much do everything Ackley does but to a lesser extent. If Seager impresses the Mariners enough in Spring Training and Wedge think he can "handle the pressure" of hitting up in the order, Seager should hit second for the Mariners.
I think the Mariners most likely 2 hole hole hitter right now is actually Ichiro. The prototypical #2 hitter is one that makes contact setting up for plays like the hit and run and advancing the runner on groundballs. From a managers perspective, Ichiro is pretty much the perfect 2 hole hitter.
From there, the lineup could go a lot of different directions. Right now, Jésus Montero very well could be the Mariners second-best hitter, but Wedge might want to keep him lower in the order to keep pressure off him or whatever.
In the end, I don't really think it matters. The Mariners would almost certainly score as many runs as they would if Ichiro was still leading off. Its more of a mental change to fans than anything else.
We have seen the same guy start off almost every Seattle Mariners baseball game for 11 years, and he's done a hell of a job with it. Whatever ends up happening, we have got the opportunity to witness one of the more extraordinary hitters in baseball history leading off every game. We got to be thankful for that.
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