Cincinnati Reds camp battle: Nick Senzel versus Shogo Akiyama

Shogo Akiyama’s case to start in CF on Opening Day

The one thing that Shogo Akiyama brings to the center field position is experience. Akiyama has spent his entire professional career on the outfield grass, while Nick Senzel just made the switch from infielder to outfielder in 2019. Akiyama has over 900 games of experience playing in the outfield, compared to the 104 games in which Senzel played last season.

Akiyama is also very adept at getting on base, which is a huge part of baseball. The more times you get on base, the more opportunities you provide to your teammates to bring you home. Akiyama has done just that over his career in the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Over the past five seasons with the Seibu Lions, Akiyama has an on-base percentage over .400 twice and never finished with an OBP below .385. That’s Joey Votto type stuff right there. If Akiyama’s game translates to Major League Baseball, then he’ll be a force at the top of the Reds lineup.

There in lies the question, however, as Japanese players have not always been able to translate success overseas to success in the states. Akiyama will be going up against the best of the best on a nightly basis. Jack Flaherty, Craig Kimbrel and Josh Hader are just a few names that Akiyama will have to contend with routinely.

Shogo Akiyama has the makeup of a player who can compete at the highest-level, but fans really won’t know what to expect until regular season play begins. Akiyama is a bit of an unknown, but his potential to be a key piece of the 2020 Cincinnati Reds team is definitely something to watch.