More players seem to be shying away from the Home Run Derby every year. Scott Servais believes he has the perfect wild-card entry.
The Mariners manager is starting a campaign for Ichiro Suzuki to get a crack at the derby next month at Nationals Park.
“He comes out every day, he takes BP seriously, and everybody remembers when Ichiro was on top of his game he was slapping the ball all over the place, but he has power,” Servais told MLB Network Radio on Wednesday. “And I know, it’s batting practice and it’s 60 mph, but he can still handle the bat.”
Suzuki was taken off the Mariners’ active roster in May and named a special assistant to the chairman to begin his semi-retirement. He has left the door open for a potential return at some point — signs point to the Mariners’ 2019 season opener in Japan — but is still around the team every day helping out.
On Tuesday, Suzuki was out on the field at Yankee Stadium throwing early batting practice to his teammates. Then, when the Mariners took regular batting practice, Suzuki jumped in the cage himself and hit like he normally would as if he were playing in that night’s game.
“He takes BP every day and he is launching balls,” Servais said. “It’s really fun to watch. That would draw a lot of fans.”
Suzuki has hit 117 home runs in 2,651 career MLB games. In Japan, he crushed 118 home runs in 951 games.
“Somebody the other day said, ‘Ichiro should go to the home run hitting contest, it would be awesome,'” Servais said. “Write-in vote, ‘IchiForDC,’ and let’s run with it.”
Aaron Judge won the Home Run Derby last year but has told The Post’s George A. King III he’ll skip this year’s event. The Yankees slugger went into a funk after last year’s derby and eventually needed offseason shoulder surgery; he would not say whether the injury stemmed from the event.