Ichiro Suzuki has long expressed an interest in pitching later in his career, and he continues to make a push to appear on the mound.
The Yankees used 21 players in a 13-inning win over the Cubs on Wednesday. That means all but their four starting pitchers who had the off day appeared in the game, including everyone from their bullpen. If they needed someone else to come in and pitch, Ichiro wanted it to be him.
“I would be happy to help if they need me,” Ichiro said via The New York Times.
The Times’ David Waldstein noted that Ichiro’s “eyes brightening at the prospect of” pitching for the Yanks.
Ichiro has a great arm in right field and was a pitcher in high school before switching positions and focusing on the outfield and hitting. He even made a pitching appearance in an All-Star Game in 1996 in Japan.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi says he will consider Suzuki if the team is ever pressed into a desperate situation.
“I’ll definitely ask him if he can do it,” Girardi said. “It looks like he has pretty good stuff.”
As for Ichiro’s stuff, the outfielder says his strong pitches are a fastball and slider. And like many Japanese pitchers, he also throws a good splitter. Now who among us baseball fans wouldn’t want to see Ichiro pitch, even if it’s only for one inning?
