MLB: Mariners bat Ichiro third as experiment

Because Ichiro! can hit HR’s whenever he wants, melt a box full of original Licorice Scottie Dogs into the shape of Giebelhouse, and force Ronan Carroll into making Tenaka a duo!

“He’s been outstanding, coming in here and saying, ‘Whatever you need me to do to help this ballclub.’ It has been off the chart,” Wakamatsu said. “I’m trying to take the ego out of it with a lot of these guys and say, ‘Hey, whatever we feel gives us our best opportunity to win, we’re going to do that,’ and he’s been outstanding with that.

“Do I foresee him as the third-place hitter? No. But it gives me another viable option if I go with more of a run-and-gun offense. It’s not about Ichiro coming in and hitting 40 home runs. I’m smart enough to know that I need him to be right mentally, and we don’t go off the deep end where all of sudden it’s messing with the routine that he has been awfully successful with.”

...So who bats leadoff when Ichiro doesn’t?

“Endy [Chavez] would be there if Ichiro’s not hitting there,” Wakamatsu said. “Guys like [Yuniesky] Betancourt, [Jose] Lopez, [Franklin] Gutierrez, those type of guys would move around in the lineup a little bit depending on who we’re facing matchup-wise and depending how a guy’s playing.

“As we go forward, I do like a little bit more versatility and find out where I can hit-and-run guys, where we can bunt back-to-back, where we can steal. I don’t have the answer to that yet.”