TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Ichiro Suzuki, who amassed 4,367 career hits in top-flight pro leagues, was among the four new candidates named Tuesday to the players division ballot for the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame's class of 2025.

Japan's hall will announce next year's honorees on Jan. 16, and Suzuki is a favorite to be inducted on the first ballot, five days before the U.S. National Baseball Hall of Fame announces its new members among recently retired players.

Suzuki, a multi-dimensional player who retired in March 2019 with 3,089 Major League Baseball hits, is also a strong candidate to enter Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility.

The three other new candidates for Japan's hall, located at Tokyo Dome, are catcher Shinnosuke Abe, pitcher Koji Uehara and first baseman Kazuya Fukuura.

Abe, currently the Yomiuri Giants manager, had 2,132 hits and 406 home runs in his career with that club. In a career split between Japan and MLB, Uehara, a former Giants ace, won 134 games and saved 128.

Fukuura finished his career with the Lotte Marines with exactly 2,000 hits.