Ichiro Suzuki is still fantasy-relevant. That's probably the least bold statement I've made to start any article in this weekly series, but it's still quite surprising if you fully understand the context. Ichiro has been all over the news this week and rightfully so. His 4,257 hits as a professional baseball player (yes, Pete Rose, Japanese baseball counts as professional and no, people still don't care what you think) make him the most prolific hitter in the history of humanity. He also is approaching 3,000 hits as a member of Major League Baseball, which puts the exclamation point on his already assured Cooperstown reservation. But I'm not going to write about that. Ichiro career retrospectives are aplenty these days, but this isn't the place. In this piece, we'll see why Ichiro is and will continue to be a useful fantasy baseball player in 2016.

Let's start by stating the obvious - his time wearing pinstripes in New York didn't end on a high note. Hitting the age of 40 in 2014, Ichiro hit .284 with 42 runs scored and 15 stolen bases. Not bad for his advanced age, but nothing resembling the Ichiro of old, just old Ichiro. Last season in Miami, he somehow went from a veteran bench presence to leading the outfield in games played. In 398 AB, he only managed a .229/.282/.279 line and was only helping on the defensive front. Despite none of the Marlins' regular outfielders suffering from long-term injuries, Ichiro has already logged 121 AB this season. Here we are a third of the way through and Ichiro is slashing .347/.410/.388. How is it that he is maintaining such a high average after staying so low last season in the same lineup?

First, he is putting everything into play. Funny thing about that BABIP stat - it doesn't work without the BIP part. Ichiro is currently rocking a .365 BABIP, which might seem due for regression except that it's not much higher than his .340 career BABIP. If anything, last year's .257 was the anomaly. Ichiro has great bat control and he can still leg out an infield single with the best of them.

There's no need to talk at length about speed because we know he won't steal 30 bases any more, but don't think he won't still be swiping a few bases here and there. He should still be good for close to 15 SB by year's end.

Even more impressive than what he's doing by making contact is what he's not doing - striking out. Ichiro has always been a contact hitter, obviously, but his current 4.4% K% is by far the lowest of his career. Of those 121 AB, he has struck out a total of six times. That number had spiked up to 17.7% in that last season with the Yankees, so it's another trend that he has managed to reverse. His 2.17 BB/K is over three times higher than 2015 and six times higher than 2014.

By far the most exciting play in any major sport. Or is it? The walk in baseball or extra point in football? Discuss...

Let's also not shortchange Ichiro by assuming that all he does is walk and leg out infield hits. His LD% is up to 27.8%, also a career high, and he is hitting ground balls at the lowest rate of his entire 15 year MLB career. Yup, he is on steroids getting stronger with age. He hasn't homered yet this season, so it's not as if he's suddenly going through a power surge. He's just making better contact and hitting the ball harder. Just to drive the point home, his Hard% is 24.3%, the second-highest of his MLB career.

Pretty sure Ichiro has a trademark on the term "seeing-eye single" from his days in Japan.

We all love Ichiro these days (except for those few disgruntled Yankees fans that are always out there). He is an all-time great to be sure, but what does that matter to fantasy owners in 2016? Unless you play in some weird league that doesn't count AVG or OBP, it sure seems like someone who is hitting around .350 might be useful. If he stays atop the Marlins lineup and Giancarlo Stanton ever decides to start hitting again, the run-scoring potential isn't bad either. Throw in double-digit steals too, as he already has five to this point. Stanton and Christian Yelich are not exactly iron men, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Ichiro stay in the lineup on a regular basis. I can't go so far as to say he should be starting in all leagues, but NL-only owners should have been playing him for weeks now. Deep mixed league owners with an extra OF or Util spot and a bit of nostalgia in their hearts can surely find a place for him as well. Congrats to the all-time hits leader!

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