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No ... nobody learned from Ichiro.  Nobody COULD.
And the specs didn't have any other role models available to learn from.
Which is why they all failed.
My point is - when the 2003 stars were flushed, the club was left with Ichiro as "THE" default team leader.  The organization then went to great pains to draft and promote every low-K, low-walk, free swinger they could get their hands on -- (guys with an Ichiro-esque template). 
Of COURSE they couldn't learn from Ichiro.  His game is unique and his approaches (all 900 of them), rely on his unique skill set and wouldn't translate to anyone else, even if he were available to teach them.  THAT's my point.  Seattle prospects have failed one after the other after the other BECAUSE (in part), the organization had ***NOBODY*** around with experience to let them "see" success.
Yes, there are coaches - who could hit 20 years ago - who can TELL them what to do.  But, Langerhans can *SHOW* what is like to say back on a pitch by a LHP and hit is well.  His career OPS is 3 points higher vs. lefties.  His career slugging is 23 points higher against lefties.
You keep Langerhans around, because it will help Saunders get better FASTER.
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You go get a new job - grocery store clerk - programmer - doesn't matter.  You bring skills, but you still have to be trained at the new company.  If they hand you a book and say learn it, you may eventually get there.  If they have someone there "tell" you how to do the parts of the job you are unfamiliar with - that's a little better.  But, if the experienced guy can SHOW you how to do it, you'll likely pick it up much, much quicker.
I have no doubt that Smoak would likely benefit a ton if he were on a team like the Braves, where he could not only talk about the difficulties of switch hitting - but also draw on the years of actual experience.  Langerhans has gone through a lot of different orgs.  He can tell Saunders stories about how "The Braves told me X - and the Nats told me Y - and when I first tried this, it took me awhile to get used to yadda, yadda, yadda."
MOST lefty hitters struggle against lefty pitching.  Langerhans doesn't.  What is the best, fastest, most effiicient way of trying to assist Saunders in learning how to hit lefties?  How about, have a similar template hitter who DOES hit lefties around? 
Maybe Saunders never hits lefties.  But, *NOW* is the time to try and see if you can get him there - rather than peg him as "will never hit lefties" - and watch him struggle to have a poor man's version of Branyan's career.