The Miami Marlins today announced that the Club has exercised its 2017 option on the contract of Ichiro Suzuki, and has re-signed third baseman Martín Prado to a three-year contract through the 2019 season. The announcements were made by Marlins' President of Baseball Operations Michael Hill.
 
Suzuki, 42, became the 30th player in Major League history to reach the 3,000-hit plateau this season, while batting .291 in 143 games. He reached his milestone 3,000th hit with a triple on August 7 at Colorado, and finished the year with 3,030 career hits in the Majors. He batted .362 (51x141) in 33 games as a leadoff hitter this year, which led all qualified National League hitters, and was second only to Dustin Pedroia (.362/72x199) in the Majors.
 
He will begin his 2017 campaign in 25th place on the all-time hits list, trailing Rod Carew (3,053) for 24th, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Suzuki now has 4,308 professional hits between MLB and Japan (1,278). On June 15 at San Diego, he unofficially passed Pete Rose's all-time professional mark of 4,256 career hits.
 
Prado, 32, had one of the best seasons of his career for Miami in 2016, his second season with the Club. He fell just three hits short of his career high (186 in 2012), his 37 doubles were his most since a career-high 42 in 2012, his 75 RBI were his most since a career-high 82 in 2013, and his .305 AVG was his best since a career-high (min. 400 AB) .307 mark in 2010.
 
Prado led the Majors in batting average against left-handed pitching this season, at .424, which set a new Franchise record. He led the NL with a .368 average with runners in scoring position, the sixth-best mark in Club history, and ranked second in the NL (fourth in MLB) with a .340 average on the road, also the sixth-best mark in Marlins' history. He finished 11th in the NL in batting average.