“Triple A is also difficult”
Shintaro Fujinami of the Oakland Athletics is currently being treated as a ‘public enemy’ by fans as well as the media. He has been criticized for being unfiltered and raw. For good reason. Because it’s such a serious failure.
After the 2022 season, Fujinami mentioned his ‘dream’ and revealed his wish to advance to the major leagues. It is true that it was not easy for him to advance to the big leagues as his performance in Japan was not good recently. However, Scott Boras, who is called the ‘Devil’s Agent’, emphasized Fujinami’s possibility of success and started active sales, leading to a contract with Auckland for 3.25 million dollars (about 4.3 billion won) for one year.
Compared to the contracts of Masataka Yoshida (Boston, 5 years, $90 million) and Senga Kodai (New York Mets, 5 years, $75 million), who entered the major leagues after the 2022 season, Fujimani’s ransom is absurdly low. But $3.25 million isn’t a small amount, considering he’s only won 22 games in his last seven seasons.
As it was ‘a dream from his childhood’, Fujinami seemed well prepared for the season. He did not completely shake off his chronic control problem, but Fujinami took the mound in 5 exhibition games and struck out 20 while throwing 18⅔ innings, going 3-0 with an earned run average of 3.86. As a result, he succeeded in getting a spot on the starting lineup.
However, after the regular season began, results different from the demonstration games began to pour in, whether the major league players had changed or Fujinami was the problem. In his first start in his debut against the Los Angeles Angels, Fujinami gave up a whopping 8 runs in 2⅓ innings and went down the mound. Even in his second appearance, the results were disappointing as he gave up 5 runs in 4⅓ innings.
Fujinami showed a quality start pitching (less than 3 earned runs in 6 innings) with 3 runs in 6 innings for the first time in his third appearance, when he had adjusted to the major leagues to some extent. But he plummeted again, giving up 8 runs in 2⅓ innings against the Texas Rangers. After the game against Texas, criticism towards Fujinami was flooded.
During his active career, he played for the Yakult Swallows, Yomiuri Giants, and Yokohama DeNA Baystars, such as eating rice with manager Lee Seung-yeop of Doosan Bears, and played 1744 games in 13 seasons in Japanese professional baseball, recording 2017 hits, 380 homers, 1272 RBIs, a batting average of 0.301 OPS of 0.859, and Former manager Alex Ramirez, who served
“I wasn’t surprised by this result because I’ve seen it many times in Japan,” manager Ramirez said on social media. Oakland should either use Fujinami as a pitching reliever for one or two innings or go down to Double-A for better results. Fujinami isn’t ready to pitch in the major leagues yet.”
In the end, Fujinami was excluded from the starting lineup after the game against Texas and changed his position to a bullpen pitcher. However, Fujinami did not improve at all. He recorded 1 run in 2 innings against the Angels, who met again, and in the match against the Cincinnati Reds with 2 runs in 1 inning, he has not played a single scoreless game since stepping on the major league stage.먹튀검증
In a situation where not only Fujinami but also his team, Auckland, could not break the chain of sluggishness, coach Ramirez brought up the story of Fujinami once again. “Fujinami is a good pitcher, but something needs to change,” Ramirez said on his YouTube channel. “In Japan, I think he was better as a bullpen than as a starter. I know. I mentioned it on social media, but a relief pitcher is much more effective than a starting pitcher.”
He has been a starter, but manager Ramirez insists that he should cut one or two innings rather than long relief. He said, “You have to use it for 1 or 2 innings. Otherwise, you will fall to Double A. At this rate, it will be difficult to regain confidence even in Triple A.” .
Finally, coach Ramirez added, “The accuracy of the slider is not very good. If you throw a forkball into the trajectory of a fastball, the opponent will not be able to hit it.” Will Fujinami be able to show a rebound from the bullpen?