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Takumi Akiyama

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Takumi Akiyama
Akiyama with the Hanshin Tigers
Hanshin Tigers – No. 21
Pitcher
Born: (1991-04-26) April 26, 1991 (age 33)
Marugame, Kagawa, Japan
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
NPB debut
August 21, 2010, for the Hanshin Tigers
NPB statistics
(through 2023 season)
Win–loss record49-44
ERA3.66
Strikeouts540
Teams

Takumi Akiyama (秋山 拓巳, Akiyama Takumi, born April 26, 1991) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB).

Amateur career

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Takumi's interest in baseball started when he was 3 as he played catch with his dad in the suburbs of Marugame City. He initially played little league baseball for the Imazu Junior Sports Club, but when his family had to move to Ehime, he joined the Saijō Juniors and even got to compete in national tournaments. He continued playing for the Saijō Seniors, and also got selected to play for the national team in an international tournament in his last year in junior high.[1] He grew up a Yomiuri Giants fan as he lived in an area that only broadcasts Giants games.[2]

He continued to play for Saijō High School where he excelled both as a hitter and pitcher. He batted cleanup from his first year, and as the senior ace pitcher, he carried his team in the prefectural and regional tournaments, all the way to both the Spring and Summer Koshien tournaments of 2009. Despite not making the finals of both national tournaments, he finished high school with an impressive 48 home run record which earned him the nickname "Iyo Godzilla" (Godzilla from Ehime).[3]

Professional career

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Akiyama was the Hanshin Tigers' 4th round pick in the 2009 annual professional baseball draft.[4] He signed a 40 million yen contract with the Tigers for a starting annual salary of 6 million yen, and was assigned jersey number 27.[5]

2010

He lost his debut match against the Giants on August 21 (6 innings, 4 ERs). A week later, he managed to pull through his next start against the Swallows and earned his first career win, a feat that was last achieved by a high-school drafted Hanshin rookie 24 years ago by Shōji Tōyama in 1986. His streak continued on September 12 when he went the distance and achieved a shutout victory with no walks against the Swallows, becoming the 7th high-school drafted rookie in the Central League to ever achieve the feat. His next outings were not as victorious however, and he finished the season with a 4–3 record and a 3.35 ERA.[6]

2011

Due to a neck injury, he spent most of the season in the minors. He was given the chance to start the September 28 game against the Swallows, but he failed to secure the win and ended his season with 0–1. During postseason, he was loaned to the Canberra Cavalry to play in the Australian Baseball League together with teammates Fumiya Araki and Yuhei Kai.[7] He took the mound for four matches and topped the league as a starter with an ERA of 1.23 during his loan period. He struck out 16, gave up 13 hits, 10 walks and 3 earned runs (1.05 WHIP) in 22 innings before going back to Japan.[8]

2012 to 2016

Akiyama spent most of the next four years in the minors pitching in Western League games, with only a handful of main squad appearances. In 2013, while he came 2nd in minor league wins and ERA, he failed to secure any wins in his 8 main league starts (0-3).[9] This was also the case in 2014, where he topped the league in wins (9) and strike outs (116) but had zero main squad wins. He did get to pitch in the 2014 NPB Tigers-Giants Union vs MLB All-Star during post-season, where he gave up 1 solo homerun in 1 inning.[10] He had two quality starts in 2015 but the succeeding relievers failed to hold the fort, and for the 3rd time in a row, Akiyama ended the season without a single win.[11]

Unfazed, he continued to pitch well in the minors in 2016, and topped the league in wins (9) and came 2nd in ERA (2.08). He got called to the main squad as a reliever for a couple of outings in August, and was returned to the starting rotation in September. Finally on September 16, he got to earn his 1st win in 4 years on his start against the Baystars.[12] His jersey number was changed to 46 during post-season, and was also awarded the team's Farm MVP.[13]

2017

This was Akiyama's comeback year as he started the season as part of the main starting rotation. He bagged his first win on April 12 against the Baystars, and became a mainstay as he continued to pitch quality starts on his next outings.[14] On May 16, he went the distance and struck out 12 batters in 9 solid innings, earning him his first complete win since 2010.[15] Despite having suffered an injury on his right hamstring early in August, he notched his 10th win on August 18, and even managed to hit his first career home run off Dragons reliever Junki Itoh, the first Hanshin pitcher to do so in Nagoya Dome.[16] He finished the season as Hanshin's top starter with a 12–6 record, with a personal best ERA of 2.99 out of 25 starts. He also topped both leagues for the fewest number of walks issued by a starter (16), with a walk percentage of 1.24 and a K/BB of 7.69.[17] Post-season, he and Masahiro Nakatani were given the 2017 Tomoaki Kanemoto Fresh Award during fan appreciation day on November 25, and received 5 million yen each.[18] His performance during the season also earned him an estimated 30 million pay raise, quadrupling his previous salary to 41 million yen.[19]

2018

This was a less productive year for Akiyama as he saw fewer starts and struggled with control early in the season. On May 8 however, he recorded a shutout victory and hit a home run against the Giants at Tokyo Dome. He became the first pitcher to toss a shutout victory and hit a home run in the same game since Colby Lewis against Yakult in 2009, and the first Hanshin pitcher since Kazuyuki Yamamoto against the Giants in 1982.[20] He started having problems with his knee after he picked up his fifth victory on June 7, and got taken off the active roster. He got a few more starts after finishing rehab, but was unsuccessful. He ended the season at 5–10 with a 3.86 ERA out of 17 starts. Post-season, he underwent surgery to clean out his right knee at a hospital in Osaka.[21]

2019

Akiyama saw fewer starts in 2019. To test his performance after surgery, he was made to start the season in the farms. After winning his first 3 games (2.70 ERA), he got his first main squad outing on April 11.[22] He promptly lost after giving up 5 runs and was immediately removed from the roster.[23] He was called back two weeks after and pitched 2 winning games, but after losing on May 18 against the Carps, he was sent back to the farms. He didn't get another start until July 25, then a few more scattered outings until September. He finished with 4-3 and a 4.26 ERA out of 10 games. While he got awarded for the most Western League wins (10) for the 3rd time,[24] but his subpar performance in the main squad earned him an 8 million pay cut, bringing his annual salary down to 32 million yen.[25]

2020

2020 Pitching Stats [26]
Pitch Percent
Thrown		 Hit
Rate		 Strikeout
+ Fanning
Rate
Four-seam 45% 25% 24%
Cutter 22% 24% 26%
Forkball 20% 17% 14%
Shuuto 6% 36% 14%
Knuckle curve 8% 15% 32%
Slider 0.5% 67% 13%

He had a rocky start in 2020, pitching a couple of bad outings (4.9 ERA in 5 games). But a productive line up helped earn him 3 wins by the end of July, less than 2 months into a pandemic-shortened season. Despite allowing 5 runs, he notched a complete win against the Swallows on July 28, almost two and a half years since he last accomplished this feat in May 2018.[27] His pitching picked up after this and he produced 6 quality starts out of 7 outings in the following weeks (6 earned runs, 1.25 ERA). In spite of this however, the team's hitting slump coupled with fielding errors, some he committed himself, only earned him 3 wins until the end of September.[28] Aided by reliable relievers, he picked up 5 more wins including another complete win on October 25 against the Giants,[29] and finished 11-3 (tied with Yuki Nishi for most wins) and a career high ERA of 2.89 and 0.97 WHIP. His last 3 outings and wins pushed Hanshin ahead of the tight race against the Dragons to finish 2nd in the rankings. He was particularly effective against the Carps line up who managed to score only 6 runs in 6 games against him.

2024

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On September 13, 2024, Akiyama announced that he would be retiring following the conclusion of the season.[30]

Pitching style

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With an overhand delivery, Akiyama throws a four-seam fastball in the 130–140 km/h (81–87 mph) range (maxed at 148 km/h (92 mph) as his main pitch, alternating with a cutter and forkball. He mixes them with a shuuto, knuckle curve and a rare slider.[31]

References

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  1. ^ "目標「毎年2けた勝利」／阪神・秋山拓巳". Shikoku News. 2010-11-05.
  2. ^ "阪神3選手が養護学校で交流 江越＆秋山が"カミングアウト". Daily Sports. 2016-12-15.
  3. ^ "阪神秋山１発＆完封、高校通算48発伊予ゴジラ本領". Nikkan Sports. 2018-05-09.
  4. ^ "2009年 新人選手選択会議(阪神タイガース)". NPB Official Website. 2009-11-28.
  5. ^ "阪神４位秋山「早くお客さんを呼びたい」". Nikkan Sports. 2009-11-27.
  6. ^ "アニキも脱帽　阪神新人秋山ワンマンショー！24年ぶり快挙！". Sports Nippon. 2010-09-12.
  7. ^ "Akiyama makes pitch to start for Cavs". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2011-11-23.
  8. ^ "阪神】秋山が帰国　充実のWリーグ". Nikkan Sports. 2016-09-16.
  9. ^ "【阪神】秋山6度目の先発でも勝てず…". Nikkan Sports. 2013-09-10.
  10. ^ "2014 SUZUKI 日米野球シリーズ 日本プロ野球80周年記念試合　打席結果・投打成績". Japan Baseball Official Website. 2014-11-21.
  11. ^ "阪神秋山「大事なところで」好投も3年ぶり白星逃す". Nikkan Sports. 2015-08-13.
  12. ^ "阪神秋山4年ぶり勝った「久しぶり気持ち良かった」". Nikkan Sports. 2016-09-17.
  13. ^ "藤川球児は22番に　阪神の背番号変更者一覧". Nikkan Sports. 2016-11-17.
  14. ^ "阪神秋山1勝「必死にやってる結果」7回途中5失点". Nikkan Sports. 2017-04-12.
  15. ^ "阪神が投打で圧倒　3連勝で貯金「11」　秋山がチーム一番乗り、7年ぶり完投勝利". Daily Sports. 2017-05-16.
  16. ^ "阪神・秋山「たまたまですけど普段の練習の成果が出たかな」". Sankei Sports. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2017-08-18.
  17. ^ "秋山、今季はスタミナもＳだ「パワプロ」イベント参加で誓った". Daily Sports. 2018-01-07.
  18. ^ "阪神・中谷　５００万円ゲット　来季は「４０本打ちます！」". Sports Nippon. 2017-11-25.
  19. ^ "阪神秋山は約４倍の４１００万円でサイン「(褒美は)時計かな」". Sankei Sports. 2017-12-06.
  20. ^ "阪神秋山１発＆完封、球団では山本和以来36年ぶり". Nikkan Sports. 2018-05-08.
  21. ^ "阪神・秋山が右膝手術　シーズン中から痛み　１８日に退院". Sports Nippon. 2018-10-19.
  22. ^ "阪神秋山11日今季初先発へ泰然「気持ちを込めて」". Nikkan Sports. 2019-04-10.
  23. ^ "14年目阪神岩田が18日ヤクルト戦で今季初先発へ". Nikkan Sports. 2019-04-13.
  24. ^ "阪神秋山が最多勝利投手賞「準備していた結果」". Nikkan Sports. 2019-11-26.
  25. ^ "阪神秋山は800万減「だいぶ良くはなっている」". Nikkan Sports. 2019-12-10.
  26. ^ "2020年度 秋山 拓巳【阪神】投手成績詳細(カウント別・球種配分)". baseballdata.jp. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  27. ^ "阪神秋山が「大人の投球」徹し812日ぶり完投勝利". Nikkan Sports. 2020-07-28.
  28. ^ "阪神秋山７回４失点「悔しい」自身２失策が失点絡む". Nikkan Sports. 2020-09-19.
  29. ^ "阪神秋山３年ぶり２桁勝利王手「あと１勝頑張る」". Nikkan Sports. 2020-10-25.
  30. ^ "[Hanshin] "Godzilla of Iyo" Takumi Akiyama retires from active duty Double-digit victory for the second consecutive year from 2020". news.yahoo.co.jp. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  31. ^ "阪神・秋山　８年目の開花の真相　転機となった３つのポイント". Sports Nippon. May 9, 2017.
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