Chicago Cubs: Top 3 reasons to sign Shogo Akiyama

Chicago Cubs: Akiyama the next leadoff hitter

2. Akiyama can be the Cubs next big leadoff hitter

The second biggest reason Chicago needs Akiyama is because of the void left by Nicholas Castellanos last season. Castellanos brought energy, power and best of all, hits to the Cubs’ struggling offense last season.  Not only does the acquisition of Akiyama help in the outfield by getting Heyward back to right, but gives the Cubs one heck of a left-handed leadoff hitter that knows how to get on base.

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Currently Akiyama has a nine season lifetime .376 OBP and .829 OPS in Japan. Jared Wyllys a contributor to Forbes SportsMoney recently wrote about Akiyama.

He had a career .376 on-base percentage in Japan, but he has not posted an OBP below .385 since 2014, even getting as high as .403 in 2018 and .419 in 2015. Last year, the Cubs leadoff hitters had league worsts in batting average and OBP at .212 and .294 respectively. In 2019, the Cubs team contact rate of 73.3 percent ranked 22nd in baseball. Having Akiyama leading off would help reverse this problem.

Let’s add to the fact that Akiyama has had three-straight 20-plus homer seasons from 2017-2019 and you are looking at someone who can fill two holes right now. Ross would probably appreciate the stability of having a leadoff hitter he can pencil in every day and going to someone Anthony Rizzo without necessity atop the order.

Anyway you shake it, there’s a lot to like about Akiyama and the number one reason the Cubs need Akiyama is my favorite.

Chicago Cubs: Bringing back the spirit of the team

1.    Akiyama would boost morale like Castellanos

If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that Akiyama would bring some spirit back to the team in very similar way that Castellanos did last season. Of course, don’t expect to see Akiyama doing a baseball bat coffin-slam if he puts one up against the scoreboard at Wrigley.

Instead, Akiyama is more like manager David Ross, carefully injecting his heroics throughout the course of a game or series as a quiet leader. Maybe that’s just another reason Akiyama would be a good fit for the team over the next two seasons. He’s a mature player that could help Ross transition the team under his control.

Akiyama’s age, maturity and ability to stay healthy make him such a great candidate for the Cubs next season, it’s no wonder he is being courted by several teams right now to include the Diamondbacks who I talked about at the beginning of this piece and are waving their signing of pitcher Madison Bumgarner in his face.

Akiyama certainly has a tough decision and Arizona is even using geography to sell their club. The Diamondbacks recently reminded the free agent outfielder that not only is it much warmer in Arizona, it’s also closer to Japan.

Hopefully Akiyama can see through the desperate ploys of some of the teams out there and give the Cubs a decent consideration. While he’s not the Chicago Cubs’ next center fielder for the next seven years, Akiyama is a good short-term answer at Wrigley Field.