Ichiro randomly pitched against high school girls team in Japan

Future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki continues to pop up at sporting events in his native Japan.

The seven-time MLB All-Star returned to the diamond recently to face an elite team of high school girls in an exhibition game.

Ichiro, now 48, threw 147 pitches and topped out at 84 mph on his way to 17 strikeouts. He also hit a batter with a pitch and was 0-for-3 at the plate.

Best known for breaking batting records, Ichiro pitched on an MLB mound one time as a reliever for an inning with the Marlins in 2015.

“I used to pitch in high school. I did pitch in an All-Star Game in Japan,” Ichiro said at the time. “But to be on the mound at a Major League Baseball game, you can say one of my dreams came true today. But I’ll never ask to do that again.”

The recent outing came after Ichiro showed up to participate in a baseball practice in late November, with students from Japan’s Kokugakuin Kugayama High School. 

Ichiro played nine seasons with the Orix BlueWave of the Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, before entering the MLB in 2001, and played 12 seasons with the Mariners.

Ichiro played two and a half seasons with the Yankees in 2012-14, before he signed with the Marlins in 2015. He played three seasons with Miami before returning to the Mariners in 2018.