Ichiro Suzuki talks about his love for the game after pitching a shutout against high-school team

Japanese pitching legend Ichiro Suzuki spoke to the The Athletic recently after pitching a complete-game shoutout against a girls high-school team at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday. While he retired from the MLB in 2019, Suzuki's love for the game has kept him going and he explained his point of view on the beloved game recently.

Ichiro Suzuki stared his professional baseball career with the Orix BlueWave in 1992 and quickly established himself as one of the top pitchers in the league, winning multiple awards during his time there. He then joined the MLB in 2001 when he signed with the Seattle Mariners and became a legend of the game in the 12 years he spent there. He had short spells with the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins, before ending his MLB career with the Mariners in 2019.

Despite ending his MLB career over five years ago, Suzuki has been a source of inspiration to a new generation of Asian baseball stars in the MLB. This year especially, there have been a number of Japanese pitchers in the market who have become free agents, attracting attention from several teams. Among those are Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Kenta Maeda.

However, Suzuki refuses to stop playing despite his retirement from the game. After his performance, he expressed his love for baseball, saying:

“I wasn’t ready to give up the game I love."

Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki completes 116-pitch shutout game with 9 strikeouts

Former MLB and Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki recently pitched in a game against a high school girls team and finished with nine strikeouts in a 116-pitch shutout performance.

The 50-year-old was playing for a team of his own creation against an amateur side at the Tokyo Dome. This was part of an annual exhibition game in an effort to support and promote girls' baseball in Japan.