In a column on this website two posts ago, I wrote about how surprised I was that Ichiro's slugging percentage—both the raw figure and his ranking—dropped significantly in Major League Baseball compared to his time in Japan. In fact, there is something else that surprised me greatly when comparing his Japanese and MLB careers: his on-base percentage (OBP). An incredibly wonderful interview with Ichiro by Yuta Ishida. "Ichiro Interviews: Complete Edition" (in Japanese, Bungeis

This is a sequel to my last column. In my last column, I wrote about my personal analysis of the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Every year, I research each player’s league ranking in eight batting categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. I believe that players who achieve the top five in the league in all eight categories can be considered the best hitters in MLB. This is merely one example of wha