Ichiro Suzuki closing in on 3,000 hits

TAMPA, Fla. — He will go down as a unique player in baseball history. A lithe singles-hitting machine who didn’t start his American career until his age-27 season, Ichiro Suzuki is 65 hits away from the magic 3,000 in MLB.

Now in his second season as a backup with the Miami Marlins, the former Yankee amassed 1,278 hits in his native Japan before coming to the United States in 2001. He enters his 25th season in professional baseball with a total of 4,213 hits.

Ichiro is excited about the possibility of becoming the 30th member of the American 3,000-hit club. The last to join was Ichiro’s former teammate, Alex Rodriguez, whose 3,000th hit came last June 19.

“You don’t have to ask anybody how big that would be,” Ichiro, 42, said recently through his translator in the Marlins’ spring training clubhouse in Jupiter, Florida. “Obviously, if you ask anybody, I think it’ll be something really huge.”

Even though his last year as an everyday player was 2013, Ichiro has had 823 plate appearances and 193 hits in the last two seasons. With pinch hitting and double-switches, he should be able to get close to 400 at-bats with Miami.

Ichiro, who is listed at 5-11 and 170 pounds, is a medical marvel among his fellow major-leaguers for his legendary stretching routines and his body-fat percentage, which appears to be near zero.

“I asked him one day,” Carlos Beltran, Ichiro’s former Yankees teammate, said the other day. “ ‘Hey, man, how much weight have you gained since you came to the league?’ He said, ‘One pound.’ I said, ‘Oh, my goodness. One pound, that’s impressive.’ He’s a unique athlete.”

Ichiro, who set a major-league record with 262 hits in 2004, is one of seven active players with between 2,000 and 3,000 hits. Beltran is another; he enters the final year of his contract with 2,454.

Beltran, who turns 39 on April 24, has said he doesn’t know how much longer he will play. He sounds pretty sure it won’t be long enough to get 546 more hits.

“Three thousand hits? My goodness. No, man,” Beltran said. “Right now, I don’t know how much more I’d have to play to get there. I’m just trying to concentrate on short goals during the year, like trying to help the team win and have the best year I can.”

There is a way to estimate a player’s chance to get to a milestone number. Bill James came up with a formula called the Favorite Toy.

According to this formula, Ichiro has a 97 percent chance to get No. 3,000.

“Imagine, bro? Unbelievable,” Beltran said. “Since he came to the league he’s been an unbelievable player. To be able to do what he has done is pretty impressive. He’s a great person, great human being. I wish him the best. I hope he can get there this year. He’ll get there.”

Beltran has a zero percent chance. The system estimates Beltran will finish his borderline Hall of Fame career with 2,703 hits.

Among the five other active players with more than 2,000 but less than 3,000, third baseman Adrian Beltre of the Rangers (2,767) is estimated as having the same chance as Ichiro: 97 percent.

Albert Pujols (2,666) is estimated at 89 percent, Miguel Cabrera (2,331) at 76 percent, the retiring David Ortiz (2,303) at zero and Robinson Cano (2,015) at 43 percent.

Just for fun, we also used the formula to estimate the chances of 23-year-old Bryce Harper (6 percent) and 24-year-old Mike Trout (20 percent). Check back in 15 years or so.

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.