Friday, June 17, 2011
Quiz results: Ichiro’s BA
Posted by Greg SimonsThank you, voters, for turning out in strong numbers again. There was significant interest—and more weird symmetry—in Ichiro Suzuki's final 2011 batting average. Here is what your cumulative totals look like:
Ichiro's BA Percentage Under .280 3.1% .280-.300 45.6% .300-.320 45.6% .320-.340 1.9% Over .340 3.8%It seems a bit odd that exactly the same number of people thought he would hit between .280 and .300 as chose the .300-.320 range. It's not quite as freaky as last quiz's perfect symmetry, but it's an odd coincidence.
As one reader, sean, noted in the comments, the batting average ranges I provided may have been too large. Considering over 90 percent of the voters choose one of two categories, I think he had a point, and increments of 15 starting at .280 may have been more realistic.
Still, better than one in 18 voters claimed Ichiro would assert himself enough to finish the season hitting over .320. And about one in 30 expect his current cratering to continue.
Of course, no one really knows what Ichiro will do the rest of 2011, but he has added 11 points to his average since this pop quiz was posted, putting him at .269. That's a nice trend, though I question whether another 200-hit season is achievable.
If he reaches that mark, it would be 11 straight 200-hit seasons and would get him close to 2500 career base knocks. If he keeps up anything close to this pace over the rest of his contract, Ichiro and his 3000 hits will be knocking on Cooperstown's door a half-decade after his career is over.
Greg Simons finally, sadly has conceded that he won't have an MLB playing career. However, in his dreams, he's still the second coming of Ozzie Smith. Please don't wake him up, though you can e-mail him at gregbsimons AT yahoo DOT com.