Discounting his impeccable base running and all world defense, Ichiro was a great hitter because he stuck to his philosophy of being a slap hitter as well as a great bunter and using his speed to get on base. But many have said he could have been more of a a HR hitter if he had wanted to...but he didn't choose to...many thought he should have been in the HR Derby; "We know what you're thinking: The guy is 5-11 and might weigh 170 pounds if somebody spilled an $8 beer on him. He routinely collects more than 200 hits per season, yet has only 91 career home runs and just one dinger this season. All true. But around baseball, Ichiro has a reputation for putting on some remarkable home-run hitting displays during batting practice. And that's really all the Home Run Derby amounts to - beefed up BP. ESPN baseball analyst Nomar Garciaparra gave Ichiro an endorsement over the weekend, noting that the Mariners star hits home runs "at will" during batting practice. Larry Stone of the Seattle Times has been pushing for Ichiro in the Derby for years, having regularly witnessed his BP magic. And Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz even told Stone a few years ago "I would put my whole year's salary on it that he would win."
