In case you were wondering, no, 45-mph eephus pitches don't catch Ichiro off-guard

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines a "base hit" as "those things Ichiro gets in nearly every at-bat."
OK no, that isn't the actual definition of the phrase, but it might as well be. For years, the wily veteran has done things with a bat that firmly establish him among one of the most gifted batsmiths the game's ever seen.
What that means, pitchers out there, is that you'd be hard-pressed to fool him with a 45-mph eephus, a lesson Rangers catcher Brett Nicholas (pressed into duty as a pitcher with Texas on the wrong end of an eventual 22-10 loss) on Wednesday night: 

The thing about Ichiro, though, is that this base hit was basically as easy for him as hitting regular, non-45-mph pitches in every other at-bat. 
In other words: He's good.