Now that seven-time Pacific League batting champion Ichiro Suzuki has left the Orix BlueWave for the Seattle Mariners, this year's PL hitting title will be up for grabs.
One man aiming to win the Silver Bat is Seibu Lions shortstop Kazuo Matsui, and he doesn't have his eye on just one prize; he's hoping to put up numbers that might win him a triple -- or maybe even a quadruple -- crown.
"Little Matsui" (so nicknamed during the 1996 major-league tour of Japan by San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker to distinguish Kazuo from Hideki "Big Matsui" of the Yomiuri Giants) is probably the best all-around player in the Pa League -- perhaps in all of Japan -- and he may be compared to the "Big Three" of great American League shortstops: Boston's Nomar Garciaparra, the Yankees' Derek Jeter, and the $252 million man, Alex Rodriguez of the Texas Rangers.