Top 32 tournament RF Dwight Evans vs Ichiro

[MilkSpiller22]

In all fairness to Ichiro, he started in the majors at age 27 when he was probably in the middle of his 'prime,' so those career rate stats he had could've been higher had he come to the majors at an earlier age. And on the contrary, it can be argued that he held on too long to overcompensate for that...up to 2010 (age 37), he had .376 OBP which has declined in recent years.

Granted it's his stats in Japan, but Ichiro at age 20 was hitting .385. So if he started in the majors earlier and didn't hang on too late to compensate for that, I'd bet on him having a higher OBP than the .358 he has right now.

I don't doubt that his ratio stats would have been better if he played earlier on in the US, but he never did walk, so his OBP would have still rarely been over .400... As he only did that once in his career...

Lets just say i think that all lead off hitters that don't walk are over-rated... by not walking, you are not getting on base enough nor are you working the starting pitcher and helping to get that Starting pitcher out of the game...

 

[Nosferatu]

If Ichiro had started in the Majors at 22 or 23 he would likely be up around 3,800 hits. Obviously OBP is important in a lead off hitter but I would imagine it would be close to .370 - .380 had he played here his entire career. Led the league in hits 7 times, scored over 100 runs every year until age 35, average around 40 steals a year still has a career average of .315 and was a good fielder. I loved watching Evans play, was a good hitter, had one of the best arms I've ever seen but he was never the best at anything just solid at a lot of things. I got Ichiro in this one.

 

[navamind]

If Ichiro had started in the Majors at 22 or 23 he would likely be up around 3,800 hits. Obviously OBP is important in a lead off hitter but I would imagine it would be close to .370 - .380 had he played here his entire career. Led the league in hits 7 times, scored over 100 runs every year until age 35, average around 40 steals a year still has a career average of .315 and was a good fielder. I loved watching Evans play, was a good hitter, had one of the best arms I've ever seen but he was never the best at anything just solid at a lot of things. I got Ichiro in this one.

Which is why he's underrated. Evans was one of the best hitters in the 1980s.

Evans had a weird career path. He started out as a great defensive outfielder with an OK bat. Then he was a great hitter with an OK glove.

 

[Nosferatu]

Which is why he's underrated. Evans was one of the best hitters in the 1980s.

Evans had a weird career path. He started out as a great defensive outfielder with an OK bat. Then he was a great hitter with an OK glove.

I never said he was overrated. If I was building a team and had to choose one of these guys as my first pick i'd take Ichiro.

 

[navamind]

also, didn't realize just how much Ichiro's career OBP has dipped over the last few years. From 2001-2010, he had a career OBP of .376. He's had an OBP of .307 over the last five years, dragging it down to .358. Still pretty good.

Ichiro was a HOF caliber player, but his bat tends to get a bit overrated. He was a great contact hitter that drew few walks and had minimal power.

I understand he came into the majors at a late age, but then you're just talking about what-ifs.