Ichiro Suzuki harshly criticizes modern baseball as "lacking warmth"! Players focus on tablets during games

This year, Japanese baseball legend Ichiro Suzuki was officially inducted into the American Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite having retired years ago, he still impresses fans as an "ageless legend." Recently, he pitched at Nagoya Dome in a girls' high school baseball selection exchange game as the "starting pitcher and leadoff hitter," throwing a full 9 innings with just one hit allowed and racking up 14 strikeouts, shutting out the opposing team and showing his exceptional talent once more. However, in a post-game interview, he delivered sharp criticism of the current professional baseball atmosphere.

Ichiro Suzuki bluntly stated that nowadays it’s difficult to feel the "warmth" among players on the field. Many athletes focus more on looking down at tablets analyzing data than observing the game situation, which diminishes the tension and atmosphere that should be present in matches. "What fans want to see are players fully engaged in the game, not people scrolling on tablets."

He also singled out the current "replay challenge system," saying it has caused baseball to lose its original pace and respect. "When the umpire calls 'out,' players should return to the dugout first and then wait for the replay result. Everyone standing around on the field waiting is simply disrespectful to the game."

Compared to his criticism of modern professional baseball, Ichiro Suzuki highly praised the girls' high school selection team, believing they displayed the purest baseball spirit. "They absolutely respect the umpires and find happiness simply by playing the game. Adults should actually learn from their respect and passion."

In fact, back in the Japanese MBS/TBS special program "Jounetsu Tairiku," Ichiro Suzuki had already openly stated that modern baseball "relies too much on data," criticizing Major League Baseball games as becoming "boring." Alongside Hideki Matsui, he pointed out that if players only pursue data-driven evaluations, they will lose their ability to think and make decisions on the spot. "Everything is managed by data, and in this situation, there’s no need to use your brain. This is exactly the current state of MLB. Judging only by visible data is very dangerous."