Yankees OF Ichiro Wants to Pitch

Before playing for the Mariners from 2001 to the middle of 2012, Yankees OF Ichiro Suzuki was a star in Japan.

The 40-year-old, now just a bench player for the Bombers, appeared in 7 Japanese All Star Games from 1994-2000, even pitching to a single hitter in 1996.

That hitter, facing Ichiro's pitch trio of fastball, slider, and splitter (his "bread and butter"), eventually grounded out, leaving a permanent mark on #31's baseball career.

Today, apparently, the veteran actually wants to try that whole thing again, something Manager Joe Girardi doesn't seem to disagree with.

“I’ll definitely ask him if he can do it,” Girardi recently told David Waldstein of the New York Times. “It looks like he has pretty good stuff.”

That pretty good stuff, remember, got an NBP All Star out, so it's not like #31's just throwing decent bullpen sessions. 

No, he may actually be legitimate. That doesn't mean that the Pinstripes should immediately find him a spot in the bullpen (getting rid of somebody else in the process), although in a 10-0 game, I don't see why not. Give the guy a chance. It's not like he doesn't deserve it, being a future Hall of Famer and all.