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I came into this article expecting to disagree with what seemed like an overly optimistic take on Ichiro from you at the onset...you have been bbanging the drum for a while that Ichiro should age well and I haven't fully bought it because of the long swing and the funky mechanics. But the video footage just EXPLODES off the page...I didn't even have to read the text to know the problem. For a guy who's swing is still mechanically fine, I can see the difference in intent there...instantly. The 2009 footage shows him lower down after followthrough as well...his whole body is down on the ball...perhaps that's why his grounders that year were more like liners that hit dirt...because he was down on the ball better and thus hitting low pitches more squarely and this year, he's not down on the ball enough and he's hitting higher bouncers that are slower?
But overall, I agree that he is clearly not "into" his swing as well...not attacking the ball as well. It makes everything make sense...I love it when that happens.
My advice would be to show Ichiro those images and tell him to swing harder. LOL