Will anyone ever break Ichiro's 262 Hit record?

He is one of only four players to get over 700 at-bat appearances (704) in a single season and he managed a .372 BA …. that's nuts

13 comments

  2. I mean it’s not absolutely unbreakable, but it will be difficult. Nobody has gotten closer than 45 away (Acuña in 2023) in the last decade. Hits are obviously in decline around the league, as well. Ichiro really was the perfect storm for this when he got in the league. Amazing contact skills, not really trying to draw walks, either. I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s impossible though, nothing has changed to the degree of pitching wins, innings, complete games, etc to say it’s truly unbreakable like those records. But it’s not likely unless the game changes a bit. That being said, all it takes is one player

  3. It’s highly unlikely.

    For Ichiro to get that number, he had to sacrifice a lot of power. He hit 225 singles that season, including 57 infield hits (which has also got to be a record). Meanwhile, the incentive system in place for hitters these days is to go for barrels and drawing walks. The 37 XBHs he had that year was the 3rd lowest total among his 10 All-Star seasons in Seattle.

    So the problems in place are

    1. Finding a player with Ichiro’s bat control
    2. That player also is fast enough out of the box to turn groundouts into IFHs
    3. Doesn’t take too many pitches, i.e. doesn’t turn hits into walks
    4. Developing that player to prioritize contact over power, and joining an organization that embraces that approach
    5. The strength of pitching today vs 2004, with every pitcher today trying to make batters swing and miss

  4. For Ichiro to do it, it required both 704 at bats AND a .372 average to reach the mark. Most dudes don’t even hit .300 and Judge after his strong start has fizzled all the way down to .330 range. Ichiro that season also had 19 Intentional Walks which led the entire American League. (Of course not the majors because….Bonds had 120!!)

    What is crazy is Ichiro had the highest WAR in the AL on top of breaking an 84 year old record and still only finished 7th in MVP voting.

  5. I wonder what 1994 Tony Gwynn could have done if he had the rest of his season to try to reach it. He had 165 hits through 110 games before the strike. That could have been 245-260 based on whatever projection you use.

  7. I looked up the season for the guy whose record Ichiro broke
    Now George Sisler’s 1920 season was absolutely nuts
    …only to be overshadowed by Babe Ruth. That season is like one of the top 10 offensive seasons of all time

  12. No problem, we’ll just cross breed the DNA from Tony Gwynn and Rickey Henderson. 275 hits and 95 stolen bases, with an OBP of .550. Easy.

  13. Its an unbreakable record…. we might not see over 220 again at this rate. I think its more likely we see someone hit .400 than break Ichiro’s record.

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