Suzuki's bench coach debut pushed back by rainout
Ichiro Suzuki has to wait another day to serve his first game as the Seattle Mariners' bench coach after the team's contest in Detroit was rained out Friday.
With manager Scott Servais missing Friday's postponement and also Saturday's now doubleheader to see his daughter get her master's degree from the University of Mississippi, Suzuki is going to step into Manny Acta's job in Servais' absence, as Acta will move up to make his Mariners managerial debut.
"(Ichiro's) going to be watching the game and managing on his own just like I do," Acta told reporters Friday afternoon. ""And if anything pops up, any idea, I'll ask him and go from there...
"And probably at the end of the day I'll go with my idea."
Suzuki, who stepped into a front-office job earlier this month but still harbors hopes of playing in 2019, is done on the field for this year. He spends most of his time in the club's video room during games while still taking cuts in the batting cage and staying in shape.
The 44-year-old Suzuki didn't even come to Major League Baseball until he was 27 after starring in Japan, but has still amassed 3,089 hits, scored 1,420 runs and stolen 509 bases. He was the American League MVP in his rookie season in 2001 with Seattle, which he has played for in 13 of his 18 seasons.
--Field Level Media
