Yuto Akihiro is a giant of his sport in more ways than one.
The 22-year-old is the tallest Japanese professional baseball player in history, and is used to being noticed.
He expects a similar response from baseball fans in Australia after joining the Adelaide Giants in their bid to clinch a third-straight Australian Baseball League (ABL) championship.
The power-hitter — who is 6 feet 8 inches, or just over 2 metres tall — is known in Japan as 'Godzilla 2.0', and joins Adelaide from the Yomiuri Giants.
"[Yomiuri] gave us an excellent opportunity to play for such a great team," Yuto Akihiro said.
"I'm excited and truly honoured to be here.
"I'm looking forward to accomplishing great things with a great group of guys."
Yuto Akihiro says his tall stature is his 'strong suit'. (ABC News: Carl Saville)
The Yomiuri Giants, a Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) team based out of Tokyo, have won a record 31 Japan Series or JBL Championships since being founded in 1934.
Yuto Akihiro is one of three Japanese players to join the Adelaide Giants this season, in a new partnership with the club.
He has played for the Japanese national team and hit .273 in his rookie season at the NPB level.
"Hitting is my strong suit more than anything," he said.
"I have the power, I'm pretty confident with my ability to swing hard.
"Using my tall stature, it's going to be my strong suit so I'm looking forward to making an impact using my power and stature."
Right-handed pitcher Makoto Kyomoto and left-handed pitcher Ryusei Yamada have also joined the team for the upcoming season.
Ryusei Yamada, Yuto Akihiro and Makoto Kyomoto have all joined the Adelaide Giants this season. (Supplied: Izzy Grace Photography)
From Giants to Giants
Adelaide's general manager Nathan Davison said the relationship built with the Japanese team showed how far his club has come in the past few years.
The Giants have won back-to-back ABL championships.
"It was a few years in the making … we had to prove to them that it was worthwhile," Davison said.
"Because they're the first ones to come out to us, they will have been told by the organisation that this is important.
"Just the fact that they've invested with a translator here, a trainer, a data and statistician, it means that they're all in and they also want to learn our way of baseball."
The three players will slot into an already talented Adelaide roster.
Eight players from Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies will also play for the Giants this year, and a further nine Australian players have World Baseball Classic experience.
Davison said the recent success of the club meant players had been calling to join the team from all around the world.
"We had to say no more than ever before," he said.
"The fact that there was demand in people wanting to be down here is great."
Yuto Akihiro is the headline act and has travelled to Australia for the first time.
He said he expects to get extra attention because of his size — something he has always had to deal with.
"I've always been tall, so I got a lot of attention growing up," he said.
"It doesn't really stress me out because I'm used to being [looked] upon that way.
"If anything, I'd like to turn the attention that I receive into my energy and keep playing hard."
'Created a fortress', says Giants boss
The Adelaide Giants won back-to-back Australian Baseball League championships in 2023/24. (Supplied: Baseball Australia)
Davison said all three players have been sent to Adelaide with the promise of improvement.
He said that was the case particularly for Yuto Akihiro, who has been touted as a future star of the NPB back in Japan.
"One of the reasons specifically to be down here is they want him to get better at playing his position," Davison said.
"We'll give him that opportunity ... so that he can continue to work on the power stroke he needs."
Davison said there was growing confidence among the club that they could once again compete for the ABL championship, especially with the talented players coming in.
"You can only win three if you've won two … we've done the hard yards," he said.
"We're going to be competitive; we're going to be a good team no matter what.
"It's hard to win here and come into our home field … we've created a fortress down here."
The Adelaide Giants will open the ABL season with a trip to Sydney to take on Sydney Blue Sox in the opening round this week.