They used to say similar things about Wayne Gretzky.
He supposedly could see a play developing faster or more easily than other players, so he would go to where the play was going to be rather than where the play was at the time. That could be called "anticipation skills", I guess, but it's neither here nor there...
"They" weren't saying these things about ICHIRO! when he was hitting .270 in May, though, were "they"? 50 hits per month for 3 months can change an "expert"s opinion of a guy, can't they?
Experts....HA....