PEORIA, Ariz. -- Ichiro Suzuki prides himself on his preparation, and no player or coach disputes that he might be the most in-shape member of the Mariners at any given time -- even including players.

While gearing up over the winter for one of his many coaching duties, batting practice, the former outfielder had a mound built in a yard outside his home in Japan. Ichiro thew off that mound to keep his arm in shape, and, sure enough, he was firing away during the Mariners’ first full-squad workout on Tuesday.

"Ichiro is definitely in better shape than any other coach we have here. I will say that I'll go on record saying that," Seattle manager Scott Servais said on Wednesday.

Ichiro, 47, needed a few warmup tosses to hone his location. He missed a few to one of his first batters, Julio Rodriguez, which prompted the uber confident and humorous prospect to ask the eventual Hall of Famer, “You scared of me?”

Ichiro has long been one of the Mariners’ go-to BP arms for his ability to hurl tight, sharp pitches over the plate, with decent velocity if needed. Just last spring, he drew attention when a video surfaced of him throwing at full velocity in windup to Franklin Gutierrez, a big leaguer of 12 years, who responded “wow” while on the catching end.

Ichiro wasn’t brought up as a pitcher during his nine seasons in Japan, where it’s encouraged to throw far more often than in the U.S., but he did pitch in high school and in an All-Star Game in his homeland. He also reached a Major League mound on the final day of the 2015 season when playing for the Marlins, topping out at 88 mph over an 18-pitch outing in the eighth inning of a 7-2 loss to the Phillies.