Baseball Prospectus | | Eyewitness Scouting Report


	Shogo Akiyama Born: 04/16/1988 (Age: 31)
	Bats: Left	Throws: Right
	Height: 6' 0"	Weight: 190
	Primary Position: CF

Athletic, classic center fielder's build. Currently at physical peak, or perhaps has started declining a bit.

Evaluator	Kazuto Yamazaki
Report Date	10/01/2019
Dates Seen	15+ looks in 2017-2019
Affiliate	(, )

MLB ETA	Risk Factor	OFP	Video
2020	Low	55	Yes

Tool	Future Grade	Report
Hit	50	Moderate, slightly open stance, stands upright with hands behind head, bat horizontal. Early leg kick with noticeable pause at load, which might cause him struggle to adjust to MLB pitching, but fixable. Bat path is short with barrel staying in the zone enough to make solid contact, and geared towards line drives. Advanced bat-to-ball with ability to make mid-pitch adjustments. All-field approach. Shows good zone awareness, though comes with occasional questionable pitch selection. Can get beaten by well-located spin even if it's below-average.
Power	45	Shows above-average raw, but it's likely to play below-average in game due to approach. More doubles power to the gaps than over-the-fence. Although there's a non-zero chance he cracks 20 home runs given 600 plate appearances.
Baserunning/Speed	70	Shows blazing speed, gets out of the box quickly with great acceleration. Constant sub-4 home-first times, topping out at 3.89 in my looks. Sub-4.4 turns at first as well. Smarter base runner than his career SB success rate (63% in 177 attempts) suggests. Goes from first to third well.
Glove	60	Exceptional jumps and routes to all directions. Double-plus speed to cover tons of ground. Makes tough plays look easy. Should remain a plus defender in his early-mid 30s.
Arm	60	Won't wow you with the strength, but it's sufficient for CF and plays plus thanks to the accuracy, as he never throws to the wrong base or misses the cutoff. The throws are always on the target.

Akiyama has been one of the best position players in NPB over the last half decade, during which he never missed a single game. His speed and glove should transfer well to stateside ball, making him a plus defender at a premium position. The bat is likely to play average, with an off chance to be above-average if he adjusts well to the offensive climate in the major leagues. It is safe to say Akiyama becomes an above-average center field regular upon his anticipated arrival to The Show in 2020, with a glove-first second division regular downside. Although, given his age, he may have only a few good seasons left.