Ichiro Suited Up For The Mariners In A Sim Game This Weekend And It Was Awesome

So the Mariners had a game on Sunday vs the Angels in Tempe, AZ, nothing out of the ordinary for spring training. They brought all their regular players to get in their reps. Again, something pretty standard for teams in ST. When the teams travel for games they don't bring all their guys so the players who stay back at the camp sometimes get reps in by doing simulation games. Not a full game but they go over scenarios and stuff like that. Just another way to get the guys to stay in shape. Well the Mariners didn't have enough guys to fill out their sim game so they called upon some of their special assistants in camp to round out their roster. 

You had 48 year-old Mike Cameron in center field, and 47 year-old Ichiro in right. Yes, you read that correctly. Ichiro retired 2 games into the 2019 season but still looks like he could play. I bet he'd still hit over .300 if he decided that he wanted to keep playing. Must have been pretty cool for Cameron and Ichiro to get to suit up again, take some hacks, play the field and feel like a ballplayer again. And for the guys on the other side, imagine facing these guys. Probably had the young guys shaking in their boots knowing they had to face a guy who hit 4 homers in one game, and arguably the best hitter of our generation. 2 Mariners legends, players they watched growing up, absolute studs out there, what a cool moment. I mean being on the mound and looking down at the catcher and seeing Ichiro do his trademark sleeve adjustment and bat point, so cool for these youngsters. 

Cameron ended up going 0-2 and Ichiro went 0-1 with a fly out to left. Like I said before, I bet if you give Ichiro like a week to train he'd be the best hitter on that team. That's how good he is. No better 2 guys for the Mariners to have in camp to help the youngsters either. Cameron was a damn good player, and we all know about Ichiro. Perfect mentors. Also pretty wild that these two were on the last Mariners team to make it into October way back in 2001. I imagine there is some young pitcher on Seattle who trash talks Ichiro like he's the old washed up basketball coach in a movie. Ichiro warns him that the youngsters doesn't want it and then ends up embarrassing the kid. I'd like to think that happened in an alternate universe. 

It's also not talked about how sweet these Mariners blues are. These may be the best uniform set in baseball. This Ichiro jersey in that color would have been an all time jersey back in 2006. Cool ass jerseys for a cool ass player, I don't think I've ever met someone who hated Ichiro. Universally loved for what, 20 years? I love Ichiro so much.