GOODYEAR, Arizona – During Cincinnati Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama’s 10-year professional baseball career, his best three skills have been getting on base, making plays defensively and staying healthy.
He has never played fewer than 85% of his team’s games, and he played every single day in the last six years he spent in the Japan Pacific League before joining the Reds. In his debut season in MLB, Akiyama played in 54 of the Reds' 60 regular-season games.
But Akiyama will miss a few weeks with a left hamstring injury and won’t be healthy entering the 2021 season.