is a Japanese professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

Nippon Professional Baseball is a professional baseball league and the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning simply ''Professional Baseball''; outside of Japan, NPB is often referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league ...

(NPB). He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

and in NPB for the

Saitama Seibu Lions The are a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League based north of Tokyo in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Before 1979, they were based in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, in Kyushu. The team is owned by a subsidiary of Seibu Railway ...

Career

Saitama Seibu Lions

The

(NPB) selected Akiyama with the third selection in the 2010 NPB draft. Akiyama55

In 2015, Akiyama set the NPB record for hits in a single season with 216, surpassing the 214 collected by

Matt Murton Matthew Henry Murton (born October 3, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, and Colorado Rockies. Murton also played in Nippon Professional ...

of the

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

in 2010. He also batted a career-best .359 average for the year. In 2017, he led the NPB with a .322 average. Over the last 5 seasons of his career in NPB (2015–2019), Akiyama batted a .321 average and appeared in 5 consecutive NPB All-Star games. On October 29, 2019, Akiyama held a press conference to announce that he had filed for free agency for the rights to play overseas in

(MLB).

Cincinnati Reds

On January 6, 2020, Akiyama signed a three-year, $21 million contract with the

. At the time, the Reds were the last team to have never had a Japanese-born player play for them. On July 24, 2020, Akiyama made his MLB debut. During the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Akiyama hit .245/.357/.297 and made no defensive errors in 54 games. He was released by the Reds on April 5, 2022.

San Diego Padres

On April 30, 2022, Akiyama signed a minor league contract with the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. In 16 games for the Triple-A

El Paso Chihuahuas The El Paso Chihuahuas are a Minor League Baseball team based in El Paso, Texas. The Chihuahuas compete in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) as the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The team plays its home games at Sou ...

, he batted .343/.378/.529 with three home runs and 21

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

(RBIs). On June 16, Akiyama opted out of his contract and was released by the Padres organization.

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

On June 27, 2022, Akiyama signed a three-year contract with the

of NPB. Akiyama was given uniform number 9, which was once worn by the legendary player and former manager of the Carp, Koichi Ogata. In 2022, Akiyama played in 44 games as an outfielder and batted .265 with five home runs and 26 RBIs. On April 15, 2023, Akiyama hit a game-ending home run (''Sayonara'' home run) in the ninth inning, giving the Carp a 5–4 win over

Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

. It was the first game-ending home run for Akiyama in almost 11 years. He played in 115 games for the Carp in 2023, hitting .274/.333/.376 with four home runs, 38 RBI, and eight stolen bases. Following the season on October 31, Akiyama underwent surgery to remove part of the

lateral meniscus The lateral meniscus (external semilunar fibrocartilage) is a fibrocartilaginous band that spans the lateral side of the interior of the knee joint. It is one of two menisci of the knee, the other being the medial meniscus. It is nearly circular ...

in his right knee.

International career

Akiyama represented the

Japan national baseball team The , also known as , is the national team representing Japan in international baseball competitions. It won the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009, and 2023 as well as WBSC Premier12 in 2019. The team is currently ranked 1st in the world by t ...

in the 2012 exhibition games against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, 2013 exhibition games against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

2015 WBSC Premier12 The 2015 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the inaugural event of the WBSC Premier12. It was held from November 8 to 21 in Taiwan and Japan. The South Korea ...

, 2016 exhibition games against Chinese Taipei, 2016 exhibition games against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

2017 World Baseball Classic The 2017 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was an international professional baseball competition, composed of 16 competing nations, held from March 6 to 22, 2017. It was the fourth iteration of the World Baseball Classic. The first-round hosts wer ...

and

2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series The 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series was the twelfth edition of the MLB Japan All-Star Series, a best-of-six series between an All-Star team from Major League Baseball (MLB) and for the second time in series history, the Japanese national team, Samu ...

. On October 1, 2019, Akiyama was selected to the 2019 WBSC Premier12. But on October 31, he broke his right toe due to a

hit by pitch In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provide ...

(HBP) in a practice game with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and he withdrew from the 2019 WBSC Premier12.

References

External links

Shogo Akiyama
at NPB.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Akiyama, Shogo 1988 births Living people Baseball people from Kanagawa Prefecture Cincinnati Reds players Japanese expatriate baseball players in the United States Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball players from Japan 21st-century Japanese sportsmen National baseball team players Nippon Professional Baseball outfielders Saitama Seibu Lions players Hiroshima Toyo Carp players 2015 WBSC Premier12 players 2017 World Baseball Classic players Louisville Bats players El Paso Chihuahuas players Sportspeople from Yokosuka, Kanagawa World Baseball Classic players of Japan