Veteran outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, a 10-time major league All-Star with 3,089 career hits since leaving Japan, is transitioning to the role of special assistant to the chairman of the Seattle Mariners, effective immediately, the team announced Thursday.

The 44-year-old Japanese, who signed a one-year contract with the club in March, will not play again in the 2018 season. The latest agreement does not say Suzuki is retiring.

"I really love the team, and my teammates mean so much to me. If (the transition) is what they are looking for from me, and if that is what I can do to help the team, I was happy to take the position," he said through an interpreter at a press conference.

Suzuki told reporters the decision has not completely sunk in yet, and he can still picture himself playing next season.

"I'm 44 and I want to see what I'll be doing in the future," he said. "It's not like I don't imagine myself playing in the (next season). I can't really give an answer unless I try."

If he does play next year with Seattle, it will mean another trip in a Mariners uniform to Japan, where the club will play games against the Oakland Athletics.

Earlier in the day, Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto explained in a statement his reasoning behind the decision.

"We want to make sure we capture all of the value that Ichiro brings to this team off the field," he said.

"This new role is a way to accomplish that. While it will evolve over time, the key is that Ichiro's presence in our clubhouse and with our players and staff improves our opportunity to win games. That is our No. 1 priority and Ichiro's No. 1 priority," he added.

"With Ichiro's track record of success, his personality, his unique perspective and his work ethic, he is singularly positioned to impact both our younger players and the veterans in the clubhouse," Dipoto said. "We really don't want him to change anything that he's doing right now, with the exception that he will not be playing in games."

Suzuki was the American League's rookie of the year and MVP when he moved to the majors in 2001 as a 27-year-old. Suzuki won his first AL batting title that season, and added another in 2004, when he broke the majors' single-season hit record that had stood since 1920. Suzuki also won 10 straight Gold Gloves from 2001 to 2010.

In the summer of 2012 with the Mariners struggling, Suzuki asked to be traded and moved to the New York Yankees. After two-plus seasons there, he became the Miami Marlins' fourth outfielder for three seasons.

On April 19, 2017, Suzuki made what many thought would be his last appearance at Safeco Field. Despite wearing a Marlins uniform, he was given a hero's welcome, and brought the home fans to their feet with a home run. At the end of the season, he was released, making him available in March when the injury-hit Mariners needed help in the outfield.

"Since signing with the Mariners, every day has been like receiving a gift," he said. "I'm happy coming to the ballpark every day. But even as I thought it would end and this would all be over, I received this proposal. If it weren't for these people whom I really like, I might not have been able to make this decision."

Suzuki's hit total ranks 21st in majors history, and he also had 1,278 hits in his nine pro seasons in Japan.

A fourth-round pick in Nippon Professional Baseball's 1991 amateur draft, Suzuki joined the Orix BlueWave -- the predecessors of today's Orix Buffaloes -- the following spring out of high school. For two seasons Suzuki dominated Japan's pitcher-friendly Western League with Orix's farm team but was unable to earn regular playing time with Orix's first team in the Pacific League because his manager disapproved of his unorthodox batting style.

Suzuki caught his break when Orix hired iconic skipper Akira Ogi ahead of the 1994 season. Ogi, who had previously helped Hideo Nomo become a superstar by letting him stick with his unorthodox pitching style, put Suzuki in the lineup from Day 1 and Ichiro responded with the first of his three straight PL MVP awards.

Suzuki led the BlueWave to back-to-back PL pennants in 1995 and 1996, won seven straight batting titles and seven Golden Gloves. Orix posted him after the 2000 season, when he became the first Japanese position player to reach the majors on April 2, 2001.

"Now I want to be a student of baseball," he said. "I'm 44 years old now, and as an athlete I want to see what kinds of things lie ahead."