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=== Ichiro!'s New Swing! ===

Isn't.

He evidently could not get comfortable with Dustin Ackley's swing, and he has simply reverted to his lifelong way of swinging.  His front foot is probably closer to his back foot than it used to be, and he's not hinging his wrists on the backswing.

My son went, "That's kind of lame, that he would try to be able to hit another way, and not be able to."  Oh, I dunno.  The old swing is a 20-year work of art, precision-honed to generate 400-foot power from a 155-pound man.  To just trade it in for another swing is to risk losing the dynamic torsion he's worked so hard to maximize.

He does indeed draw the front knee in farther now, though.  The front shin is almost angled at the pitcher.  And he does load the bat a little bit more.  Certainly he swings noticeably harder.  

This is all a throwback to his Orix days, in which he used to pick his left foot up off the ground, swinging it back, and using a "leg kick" to hit 20-25 home runs in a short season.  Ichiro came to the U.S., became mesmerized with the 200-hit goal, and abandoned the leg kick.  I'd love to see the 25-homer version of Ichiro, and on March 13, he was swinging that way.

.......

This harder swing could help or hurt his BABIP.  On the one hand, he's pretty much writing off the old infield-hit avalanche that he used to inflict.  On the other hand, the ball will skip through the infielders with more pace.  You tell me which factor will predominate.

There is a little bonus here:  with a man on second, Ichiro likes to bunt for a base hit.  It's nothing unusual for a leadoff hitter to bunt .500 to .700 on these plays.  Why they don't do it is a mystery, like Justin Smoak not bunting against the shift.  But the #3 position will probably bring added bunts, and profit, for Ichiro.

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=== Get Your Head In the Game, Dept. ===

In this article, we concluded that Ichiro's poor 2011 was in part due to a perceptible lack of enthusiasm in his swing.  Before-and-after photos are attached.  So, obviously, Dr. D is excited about getting a chance to see him let the bat fly.

The data also show that with men on base, Ichiro is a different hitter.  He almost never strikes out with RISP, does not expand his strike zone, and he does not tennis-volley the ball to the left side.

In Ichiro's 11 years in Seattle, he has five MVP-candidate years and there have been five years in which the batter in front of him was above average.  Those years overlap with perfect precision.

Having watched him for those 11 years?  I personally believe that Ichiro dials in better when there are men on base.  Leading off the inning, he's more shrill, sort of "desperately" swinging for base hits -- often he swings at garbage pitches on 3-0 and 3-1, as if to keep the AB alive and avoid the walk.  But with men on, he seems to be thinking about the scoreboard.

He's been isolated in the leadoff spot lately, playing for losing teams, with terrible hitters in front of him.  Ho-hum, here's another at-bat, down by four runs, two outs, nobody on.  He has passed the time by chasing 200 hits.

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=== Chicks Dig the Long Ball ===

Ichiro has averaged a good 9 homers per 162 games even in Safeco, including seasons with 15, 13, and 11 homers.  Wade Boggs hit 24 one year.  Rickey hit 28 homers, twice.  Tony Gwynn, after hitting 3 homers at age 36, then decided to hit 16 and 17 homers the next two years, ages 37 and 38 -- in short seasons.

It wouldn't be a shock for Ichiro to hit 15-20 homers, if that's what he was intending to do.

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Players whine that a change in batting slot can upset their games.  But in Ichiro's case, he really will have to play differently.  It doesn't do any good, in the middle of a rally, to slap a ball on the ground and beat the throw to 1B.  The fielder goes to 2B for the force, and you aren't credited with your single.

Ichiro's 200-hit chase has been something of an indulgence on his part.  I'm curious as to whether there is a different Ichiro, a superior Ichiro, in store.  Guess here, is that there is.