is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
Early baseball career
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. He grew up a Yomiuri Giants fan as he lived in an area that only broadcasts Giants games.
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).
Hanshin Tigers
He was the Hanshin Tigers' 4th round pick in the 2009 annual professional baseball draft. 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.
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.
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. 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.
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). 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. 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.
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. His jersey number was changed to 46 during post-season, and was also awarded the team's Farm MVP.