Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Shogo Akiyama was born April 16, 1988, in Yokosuka, Japan. He is a center fielder in the MLB.

In 2015, Akiyama set the NPB record for hits in a single season with 216, surpassing the 214 collected by Matt Murton of the Hanshin Tigers 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 Major League Baseball (MLB).

On January 6, 2020, Akiyama signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Cincinnati Reds. 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.

Akiyama represented the Japan national baseball team in the 2012 exhibition games against Cuba, 2013 exhibition games against Chinese Taipei, 2015 WBSC Premier12, 2016 exhibition games against Chinese Taipei, 2016 exhibition games against Mexico and Netherlands, 2017 World Baseball Classic and 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series.

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 (HBP) in a practice game with Canada, and he withdrew from the 2019 WBSC Premier12.