Shogo Akiyama

Akiyama was the third part of the Reds' offseason attempts to boost their offense, at least in terms of expenditure, and the least successful. He did some things right, walking at a 13.7% rate that is what you want at the top of the order, and he stole seven bases in 10 attempts. Unfortunately, Akiyama is still looking for his first major-league homer and had only seven extra-base hits total. His 85.1 mph average exit velocity and .052 ISO confirm that this lack of power was not a fluke. For a player with so little power, he has to hit for a better average (.254) and/or steal more bases to have value in our games. There was some hope that Akiyama would hit for at least nominal power, having hit 69 homers over his last three years in Japan. Alas, he's turning out to be more like Akinori Iwamura, who hit 16 major league homers over four seasons despite hitting 106 homers in the previous three seasons before coming to MLB.