Akiyama won't make Reds' roster; Garcia on team

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Outfielder Shogo Akiyama, the first Japanese player in Reds history, has been informed that he will not make the club’s 2022 Opening Day roster.

Akiyama, who is in the final season of a three-year, $21 million deal, can accept an option to Triple-A Louisville. He can also elect free agency if he goes unclaimed on waivers. Any team that claims Akiyama would be on the hook for his $8 million contract for the 2022 season.

“We thought we had better options in the outfield,” Cincinnati general manager Nick Krall said Sunday. “We liked the guys that have played out there. With [Jake] Fraley and [Tyler] Naquin, we felt that another left-handed bat was redundant.”

Signed prior to the start of the 2020 season, Akiyama came stateside after a successful nine-year run with the Seibu Lions in Japan. While the pandemic altered the Reds’ plans in Akiyama’s first season, he never quite found his footing, delivering a .224/.320/.274 slash line over 142 games with Cincinnati.

“It’s been a tough road from the beginning,” Reds manager David Bell said. “He just didn’t get a ton of opportunities to play. We know he can play this game.”

“It wasn’t like I was caught off guard or [it was] anything unpredictable,” Akiyama said of the decision. “I know that in the big leagues here, it could happen at any time.”

Akiyama appeared in seven Cactus League games this spring and went 4-for-22 with no extra-base hits and six strikeouts. With Akiyama not making the club, Aristides Aquino’s odds of breaking camp with the Reds as an additional outfielder have increased.

As Akiyama reflected on his Reds tenure, two moments in particular stood out.

“That first at-bat. I know that there were no fans there, but you know, getting that hit, getting that RBI -- I felt like I was welcome in the dugout, I felt like I was a part of that team and family,” Akiyama said. “Also, that [press conference] when I joined the team, I do remember that. But it’s just unfortunate that I don’t have that many memorable moments.”

While Reds brass was hopeful that Akiyama would accept an assignment to Triple-A, they collectively understood that he would do what was best for him and his family. Krall said that the club discussed sending Akiyama to Louisville last season to get him more at-bats, but that his representatives were uninterested.

“Loved having him here; great person,” Krall said of Akiyama. “I just really enjoyed his whole time being here.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he lands somewhere and gets an opportunity to help a Major League team win,” Bell said.

Garcia wins job as backup catcher
All that prodigious power that Aramis Garcia put on display during Cactus League play does not appear to have gone for naught. With the caveat that anything can still happen, Garcia is on track to make the Opening Day roster with the announcement Sunday that Andrew Knapp would not be making the club. The two were in competition throughout camp to serve as Tyler Stephenson’s backup.

“He won the job, basically,” Bell said. “He earned an opportunity to be on this team. We knew Aramis coming into the camp -- a lot of the coaches were familiar with who he was as a player, who he is as a person, and he came in and showed all of that.

“Aramis came in and competed and won the job.”

Bell mentioned that the Reds will not have designated pitcher-catcher combos to begin 2022, such as how Wade Miley and Tucker Barnhart grew to work together throughout ‘21.

Garcia appeared in 32 games last season with the A's and slashed .205/.239/.318. He has nine home runs in 193 career big league at-bats, but the 29-year-old's playing time has been sporadic at best.

“He’s done this before, he’s been around the game,” Bell said. “He’s still young in a lot of ways, but he does have experience. He’s better than his reputation, and he has continued to improve.”