How fast is he? They (espn) timed him at 3.8 to first. How fast is that? I thought Vince Coleman once said that he and Bo ran a 4.1 or so to first. Ichiro can't be faster than those two. Honestly, he doesn't even look like he's in a sprint out there. Of course, he basically beat out a routine grounder to short that night.
He is that fast. Also, batting left-handed & with his swing, he gets a 3-4 step head start over a RH batter.
Ichiro's swing carries his momentum towards 1B, so he gets out the box so damn fast. He's one of the fastest players in the game today, but would probably lose a 100 M sprint against Bo or VC.
I think Bo would beat his ass. In this comparison Ichiro has all the advantages. Left handed hitter who runs through the batters box like a softballer. Bo took a real hack and hit right handed obviously.
I was listening to the Mariners-Red Sox game last night on the radio and the announcer, don't know who it was, said that Mickey Mantle was once timed at 3.3 seconds to first base on a leftie drag bunt. That's hard to believe! I guess that's one of the reasons he's regarding as one of the best ever. And all that power, too! From both sides of the plate!!!!!!
Ichiro is simply perfectly built to do what he does. It's the same thing as racing a Civic versus an Expedition - the Civic has better starting acceleration because it's lighter. The Expedition has more power, but that doesn't matter at all if you are just trying to be the first out of the intersection.
