Masahiro Tanaka is eagerly awaiting his chance to finally face his boyhood hero Ichiro Suzuki on Monday as the New York Yankees right-hander readies himself to face the Miami Marlins.
"I've been looking forward to this, I followed him since I was little when he was at the Orix BlueWave," said the 26-year-old Tanaka of his former teammate at the Yankees, where the pair spent last season together.
"I remember some players going into a match with nothing riding on it without warming up, but he was doing his preparation as always," said Tanaka of the unfading 41-year-old. "I know his technique is top class, I've seen him batting hundreds of times so it's easy to picture what it'll be like."
Tanaka does have an experience of facing Ichiro in a training camp, when they were together at the Japan's 2009 World Baseball Classic team, but claims it "will have no bearing" this time around.
Tanaka returned from tendinitis in his wrist this month and has won two games since.
Ichiro, meanwhile, geared up with a pinch-hit RBI single and stole third in the seventh inning in the Marlins' 4-0 defeat to the Colorado Rockies, upping his batting average to .281.