The 2025 Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame ballot was released on Monday. It is headlined by legendary closer Billy Wagner, veteran southpaw C.C Sabathia as well as one of baseball’s top hitters, Ichiro Suzuki.
While Wagner and Sabathia are also worthy of a spot in Cooperstown, Suzuki’s baseball achievements should make the Japanese superstar a shoo-in first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Over his illustrious 19-year MLB career, Suzuki earned nearly every accolade the Majors has to offer. He began his Major League career with a bang in 2001 by winning American League Rookie of the Year and MVP in his debut season.
Suzuki even became the 10th member inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2022.
The talented outfielder followed that up with 10 All-Star appearances, three Silver Slugger awards, two batting titles and 10 Gold Glove awards. While those accolades should be more than enough to ensure his spot in Cooperstown, here are five more stats to highlight why Suzuki should be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Hits king
Including his nine years in Japan, Suzuki has more career hits than any other professional baseball player with 4,367. He led the majors in hits seven times in his 19 seasons and is one of seven players ever with 3,000 career hits and 500 steals.
Suzuki surpassed the 200-hit plateau 10 times, doing so in each of his first 10 seasons, when he averaged 224 per year. He is tied with the late Pete Rose for the most 200-hit campaigns. Lastly, despite making his MLB debut at 27 years old, Suzuki finished his career with 3,079 hits, which is the 25th most in MLB history.
Ichiro’s magical 2004 season
In 2004, Suzuki enjoyed one of the most productive seasons in MLB history. Through 704 at-bats, the Mariners icon bat .372 and set a single-season record with 262 hits, breaking Hall of Famer George Sisler’s 84-year-old record for most hits (257). Additionally, Suzuki became one of just four players to cross 700 at-bats in a single season, making his absurd efficiency at the plate even more impressive considering the immensely high volume.
Hot start
Following his impressive debut season, in which he compiled 242 hits with a .350 batting average, Suzuki won the 2001 AL MVP, joining Fred Lynn (1975 Red Sox) as the only rookies to win. The Japanese star was also named the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year, becoming the third player in club history (Alvin Davis (1984) and Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000)) to win the award. Kyle Lewis (2020) became the fourth Mariners player to win the award.
Consistency is key
Suzuki’s insane production as a batter has been discussed at length, including this article, but there is yet another stat that defies all logic. After Suzuki’s rookie season, where he hit .350 with 69 RBI and stole 56 bases, his career batting average never dipped below .300. After 2,653 games played in 19 seasons, Suzuki finished his career with an impressive .311 batting average.
Two-way superstar
Suzuki’s greatness was not limited to offense, as the hard-throwing righty was one of the best outfielders in Major League history. The longtime Mariner won a Gold Glove in each of his first 10 seasons, joining Hall of Fame Reds catcher Johnny Bench (1968–77) as the only players to do so.
Should he rightfully be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2025, he would be the first Japanese-born MLB player enshrined in Cooperstown.