Padres to sign OF Shogo Akiyama to minors deal

The Padres have reached an agreement to sign former Reds outfielder Shogo Akiyama to a minor league deal, per The Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans.

There were rumors even earlier Saturday that the Seibu Lions were interested in bringing Akiyama back to the organization where he made his name, but the Japanese outfielder apparently is not yet done with Major League Baseball. With the Reds, he made 183 trips to the plate in each of 2020 and 2021, hitting a combined .224/.320/.274 in that time.

The Padres seem almost continually to shuffle their roster in reaction to injury. So long as Trent Grisham remains healthy, he’ll be the man in center field, though health has been an issue at times for Grisham. With Wil Myers recently going on the injured list, however, it’s been a new collection of bodied patrolling the grass including Matt Beaty, Trayce Thompson and Jose Azocar. Akiyama could provide necessary depth in this area.