For Ichiro Suzuki, 41 Is the New 25 in Miami

Working Out With Ichiro Suzuki at His Private Stadium in Japan

Each winter, Hotto Motto Field in Kobe, Japan, essentially becomes a personal gym for the 41-year-old Miami Marlin, who stays in playing shape all year round.

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Ichiro Suzuki takes batting practice over the winter inside Hotto Motto Field in Kobe, Japan, his old home ballpark from his days in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. Each winter, the stadium essentially becomes a personal gym for the 41-year-old Ichiro, who stays in playing shape all year round. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

Ichiro Suzuki runs the bases inside Hotto Motto Field. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

Ichiro said he once laid off throwing the ball for two weeks at the end of a season. He hated the feeling, and vowed never to idle his arm for so long again. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

“A lot of 25-year-olds move like they’re 41, so my goal is to be the 41-year-old who plays like he’s 25,” he said. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

The Miami Marlins offered to administer Ichiro’s physical exam in Japan, so as not to interrupt his off-season training. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

Ichiro is known in both Japan and the U.S. for his circus catches during batting practice. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

“Engaging in baseball movements without the pressure of a game is the most enjoyable activity imaginable,” he said. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

At 41 years old, Ichiro will be the oldest position player in the major leagues this season. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

It’s not uncommon for Ichiro to take 150 swings against live pitching every day. Adding the soft-tossing and indoor cage work, he could take as many as 300 swings on a typical winter day. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

“What’s the longest I’ve gone without swinging a bat since I came here 15 years ago?” Ichiro said, referring to his arrival in the U.S. in 2001. “I’d have to think it was when I went to Italy for a week one winter and was remiss in not packing one.” Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

Ichiro collected 1,278 base hits in Japan, and has added another 2,844 in 14 major-league seasons Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

While most other players are on vacation, Ichiro is busy employing two former professional players to help him train—a pitcher who throws live batting practice from a mound, and a catcher who alternates in the hitting cage and throws with him. Hisashi Murayama for The Wall Street Journal …

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KOBE, Japan—When Ichiro Suzuki arrived at Miami Marlins training camp last month, he was the only player on the 40-man roster born in the 1970s. In fact, he was only two years younger than the team’s manager, Mike Redmond.

At 41, Ichiro was trying to hook on with his third major-league team, having parted ways with the Yankees after playing parts of three seasons in the Bronx. But he is no charity case. Indeed, when one of his new teammates, infielder Mike Morse, saw that Ichiro had signed with the Marlins, he sent a congratulatory text and got a quick reply: “Make sure your arm’s ready to go as my throwing partner.”

It was a tall order. A teammate of Ichiro’s in Seattle, Morse knows that he stays in playing shape year-round. So when Ichiro arrives for spring training, his rusty teammates often resort to bouncing the ball back to him during sessions of catch, because he heaves it farther than anyone else.

“Everyone has their own off-season training program, and I don’t begrudge anyone that,” Ichiro said recently. “For me, spring training exists for what I can’t do on my own over the winter—practice team play and get re-acclimated to real game situations.”

That winter regimen is a major factor in how Ichiro remains an in-demand major-league outfielder. After his deal with the Yankees expired last season, it was unclear whether the future Hall of Famer would land with another team, return to the Japanese professional league, or retire.

That is, it was unclear to everyone but Ichiro.

“The individual stuff, like throwing, running and hitting, are activities I enjoy and can’t imagine not doing them regularly throughout the year,” he said. “From a health standpoint, it’s good for blood circulation. And mentally, engaging in baseball movements without the pressure of a game is the most enjoyable activity imaginable.”

That explains the unique winters at Hotto Motto Field in Kobe, Japan, Ichiro’s home ballpark during his career with the Orix BlueWave (now Buffaloes), which essentially becomes a personal gym when he isn’t in America.

While most other players are on vacation, Ichiro is busy employing two former professional players to help him train—a pitcher who throws live batting practice from a mound, and a catcher who alternates in the hitting cage and throws with him. It’s not uncommon for Ichiro to take 150 swings against live pitching every day. Adding the soft-tossing and indoor cage work, he could take as many as 300 swings on a typical winter day.

“What’s the longest I’ve gone without swinging a bat since I came here 15 years ago?” Ichiro said, referring to his celebrated arrival in the U.S. in 2001. “I’d have to think it was when I went to Italy for a week one winter and was remiss in not packing one.”

After laughing at the notion, he added that he once laid off throwing the ball for two weeks at the end of a season. He hated the feeling, and vowed never to idle his arm for so long again.

Within days after the Yankees’ 2014 season ended, Ichiro was back at Yankee Stadium like clockwork, batting, throwing and running. But this time the clock was ticking: When his contract officially expired after the Yankee-less World Series, he was forced to return to Japan. He resumed his workouts at the desolate Hotto Motto Field, waiting for his free-agent market to develop. The Marlins’ announcement didn’t come until Jan. 29, meaning he endured nearly three months of not knowing for whom he was working out.

“That must be what it feels like to be a puppy at a pet shop,” Ichiro explained in his unique style. “Amongst all the cute little puppies jumping and tumbling for prospective owners, there’s one who’s a little older, a little more mature, who keeps getting passed over for the more adorable ones. When someone finally comes along and points a finger at him, an undying loyalty is born.”

Ichiro says he valued his time with the Yankees and cherished being Derek Jeter’s teammate for three seasons. But when general manager Brian Cashman signed 31-year-old free agent Chris Young to be the team’s fourth outfielder, it was a public expression of what Ichiro has felt privately about baseball’s attitude toward his age.

Last season, while Young was busy hitting .222 in a season split between the Mets and Yankees, Ichiro led the Yankees with a .284 batting average and made some dazzling plays in the outfield, as he always has. But his one home run and pedestrian on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .664 were often cited as evidence that age is slowing him down.

To defeat that perception, Ichiro is embracing his move from baseball’s most traditional franchise to one of its youngest.

“A lot of 25-year-olds move like they’re 41, so my goal is to be the 41-year-old who plays like he’s 25,” he said. “I believe that humans use their experiences to mature professionally as they enter their 40s, so it’s depressing to think I could have been deprived of that reward.”

The Marlins, who have been toiling near the bottom of the National League East for much of this decade, seemed happy to get a little older. They offered to administer Ichiro’s physical exam in Japan, so as not to interrupt his off-season training, a rare courtesy. After he agreed to sign, six executives traveled 18 hours from Miami to introduce Ichiro as a Marlin in Tokyo.

How long the goodwill lasts is the test of any relationship. But if spring training is any indication, this one is doing fine. Ichiro has thrown out two runners trying to advance on his arm. At the plate, he has nine hits in 36 at-bats. He’ll be 156 hits short of 3,000 in his major-league career when the regular season begins April 6.

When Ichiro first arrived in camp, the team insisted on renting a 40-foot railroad container so he could bring his personal flexibility and range-of-motion machines that he considers vital to his year round conditioning. It was just the latest gesture to make the major league’s oldest position player feel like the most wanted puppy in the store.