When Hanshin Tigers right-hander Shintaro Fujinami (29) set out to challenge for the major leagues at the end of last year, few Japanese media expected success. First of all, he was not the best player in Japanese professional baseball as of last year. It was different from Senga Godai (30, New York Mets) and Yoshida Masataka (30, Boston Red Sox), who entered the major leagues after the end of last year’s season.
Senga was an ace who had been active as the first starter for the Softbank Hawks for a long time and had the most wins and ERA. He won a total of 87 wins in Japan and posted 1252 strikeouts. Yoshida led the Orix Buffaloes to the Pacific League championship for the second year in a row and the Japan Series championship last year as the fourth hitter. He was the top hitter with a career batting average of ‘3 2 7 Lee’.
Fujinami, who was considered the best prospect along with Shohei Ohtani (29, LA Angels), joined the Hanshin Tigers in 2013 and won double-digit wins for three consecutive years. He once got a lot more attention than Ohtani. However, it went downhill as his self-management revealed problems, and control hunting appeared.
He has 7 wins and 14 losses in 3 years from 2020 to last year. Last season, he pitched in 16 games, going 3-5 with a 3.38 earned run average in 66⅔ innings pitched.
He was more stable than before, but he wasn’t a major league pitcher, no matter how positively he looked at it. He threw the ball at a top speed of 160 km/h, but the ball always caught his ankle.
Fujinami, who signed a two-year contract with the Oakland Athletics, began the season as a starter. He gave up 8 runs in 2⅓ innings in his first start against the Los Angeles Angels. As his slump continued, he moved from starter to relief pitcher.
I am also jagged and anxious.
Fujinami took the mound against the Kansas City Royals on the 6th (hereafter Korean time). He got on the mound in the seventh inning, leading 9–5, and allowed three runs while holding one out count. He faced four hitters in Kansas City’s top lineup, and he gave up walks to three.
Fujinami, who walked lead batters No. 2 Edward Olivares and No. 3 Vinnie Pasquantino, caught Salvarod Perez at No. 4 with a floating ball from shortstop. He wanted to sigh, but he didn’t. Following this, he allowed a walk to Nick Fratto in the fifth.
Pasquantino and Frato were straight walks. Fujinami was replaced at the bases loaded with one out, and all three runners in succession hit home.
Out of 19 pitches thrown that day, only 4 were strikes.
He pitched differently than he did against the Seattle Mariners in the last 3 days. He pitched in the ninth inning against Seattle and blocked one inning with no hits and no runs. With a 1-2 trail, he struck out the first two batters and caught the third on a foul fly to left field.
4 losses in 8 games this season,메이저놀이터 13.50 ERA. He struck out 18 in 19⅓ total innings, with 22 on four walks. He has a batting average of 2.8 8 and a WHIP (on-base percentage per inning) of 2.17.
On the 6th, when Fujinami gave up 3 runs in ⅓ innings, Senga recorded 6 scoreless innings against the Colorado Rockies and earned his 4th win of the season. In addition, Yoshida added a hit against the Philadelphia Phillies, continuing his 15-game hit streak