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very smart ballplayer, the kind of guy who does what is needed, when it's needed.  Which brings me to an interesting question I was kicking around the other day.  What is the value of an Ichiro SB vs. the league average?  I would assume, shooting from the hip, that his SB's would be more valuable than league average by quite a bit as far as WPA or leverage or whatever the current metric is for quantifying such.  Similar to Mike Cameron a few years ago hitting many of his home runs in one run or tied games (don't know if that was a career trend or just a flash).
 
Anyways, I agree with you that Ichiro will only swing at the out-of-zone pitches if there's a good chance he can drive the ball from there, and when he's not limited to swinging at pitches in the zone, he's not only dangerous, but he controls the AB better than most hitters out there.  It's the same thing that made Vlad so dangerous for the Angels.  You'd get him in a pitcher's count, throw the junkball at his ankles, and he'd crush it out of the park.