Yuto Akihiro Expresses Frustration After Surprise Trade from Giants to SoftBank Hawks

About the trade, he said, “I had an idea what to expect.”

“The pressure of wearing Giants’ No. 55 — people say it got to me. But personally, I never felt it as pressure, only as expectation. That said, it’s true I didn’t produce results. And of course, there’s frustration in that.”

Transfers in professional baseball don’t come with advance notice like a typical corporate job. They often strike suddenly. Yuto Akihiro (22), who was traded from the Yomiuri Giants to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in a surprise move on May 12, recalled that moment slowly and thoughtfully.

“The team informed me about it about an hour and a half before it hit the news. After the Yakult game the night before, while I was getting ready to leave the clubhouse, someone from the front office approached me and said, ‘Come to the team office at 11 a.m. tomorrow.’ It was someone we normally don’t see at away games, so I had a gut feeling — like, ‘Maybe this is it.’”

He went on:

“Actually, among the Giants players, there had been talk that a trade might be coming. At one point, someone mentioned, ‘I heard Richard Sunagawa (26) might be coming.’ And when that name came up, I kind of had a hunch — that I might be the one heading the other way.”

Sensing the shift earlier than most, Akihiro was composed when a Giants staff member called him aside at Jingu Stadium.

“I didn’t lose sleep over it or anything like that,” he laughed. “I was surprisingly calm. But when I visited the team office for my final goodbye, that’s when the emotion hit. Especially when I told Hayato Sakamoto (36). He had always looked out for me, and when he said, ‘I’ll miss you too, but do your best,’ that really got me.”

“I want to keep a good batting average.”

Akihiro joined the Yomiuri Giants in 2020 as a fifth-round draft pick straight out of high school, wearing jersey No. 68. He made his first-team debut in his rookie year. As he once said, “I outgrew my father (172 cm) by fourth grade,” and at 2 meters tall, expectations for this power hitter were immense. So much so that, in a rare move, the Giants announced at the end of that same year that he would take over the iconic No. 55 — the number worn by legendary slugger Hideki Matsui (51).

“I remember during contract talks, someone from the front office said, ‘This number carries the meaning of Matsui’s legacy, but also our hope that you’ll hit 55 home runs.’ That’s why, in the offseason, I trained with slugger Sho Nakata (36) to build up my body. I was eating about nine servings of rice a day and ended up gaining around 10 kilograms.”

In his second year as a pro, he led the Giants’ farm team in hits, and in his third year, he broke out on the first team. He played in 121 games, hit .273, and blasted 10 home runs — a performance that hinted at a bright future.

Both former manager Tatsunori Hara (66), who gave Akihiro opportunities on the top team, and current manager Shinnosuke Abe (46), who knows him well from his farm team days, were committed to developing him into an extraordinary slugger. But Akihiro’s own vision was a bit different.

“Because of my height, people tend to see me as a home run hitter, but I actually have more confidence in my batting average. In 2023, people focused on my 10 home runs, but personally, I was more encouraged by the batting average I managed to post. So even now, I’m most focused on making consistent contact. I want to keep improving that area and maintain a solid average.”

Though things didn’t quite go as hoped with the Giants, Akihiro is using that frustration as fuel — vowing to take his game to the next level.

In the July 4 issue of “FRIDAY July 18-25” and the paid version of “FRIDAY GOLD,” Akihiro talks candidly about his feelings toward his old club, the Giants, and his future prospects.

For more details and multiple photos, click here↓.

From the July 18-25, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”