Shintaro Fujinami (Oakland Athletics), who was once noted as a rival of Shohei Ohtani (LA Angels), is having considerable difficulties adapting to the major leagues.
Fujinami started the 2023 major league away game against the Tampa Bay Rays held at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA on the 9th (hereinafter Korean time) and lost 2 seasons with 3 hits, 4 walks, 1 strikeout and 5 runs in 4⅓ innings ( Unwin) was thrashed.
The start was neat. In the first and second innings, he committed a three-way offense and had a tight pitching battle with starter Jeffrey Springs in the early stages. In the third inning, he gave a walk to Francisco Mejia after two outs, but ended the inning with Yandy Diaz as a shortstop grounder.
Fujinami started to shake from the 4th inning when the match was 0-0. Leading Brandon Lowe’s walk and Wander Franco’s infield hit led to 1st out, 1st and 2nd baseman Luke Reilly’s first baseman grounder, and 2nd out, 2nd and 3rd base, but met Isaac Paredis and hit the right time with 2 RBIs. Afterwards, after bringing the bases to one company with four balls and two walks in the 5th inning, Randy Arozarena hit 2 RBIs in a timely manner and passed the mound to Sam Moll. 79 pitches.
Fujinami threw a 160km fastball in high school and was called Ohtani’s rival. After that, he entered the professional league wearing a Hanshin Tigers uniform and won double-digit wins for three consecutive years from 2013, but since 2017, he has not lived up to expectations due to difficulties in ball hunting and injuries. In 2020, following the Corona 19 infection, he was also punished for being late for team training and was relegated to the second team indefinitely.
Last year, Fujinami, who had an average ERA of 3.38 in 16 games with 3 wins and 5 losses, pushed for advancement to the major leagues through the posting system after the season. And finally, on January 14th, he made his dream come true by signing a contract with Auckland for 3.25 million dollars (about 4 billion won) for a year.
Nami Fuji, who showed the prospects for his debut season with an ERA of 3.86, 3 wins in 5 exhibition matches. However, his mock test scores did not lead to the CSAT. After meeting the Los Angeles Angels on the 2nd and making a harsh debut with 8 runs in 2⅓ innings, he self-destructed on the 9th with 5 runs and his ERA soared to 17.55.
Local media are also throwing question marks as Fujinami suffers one after another. MLB.com, the official homepage of the Major League Baseball, said, “Fujinami’s pitch hunting is familiar. Even so, he blocked it with 2 runs until the 4th inning, but after that, the all-too-familiar game hunting occurred again. His final record was similar to his first game against the Angels.”
Local radio station KCBS said,먹튀검증 “Fujinami is a pitcher with potential, but when the situation worsens, he collapses like rolling down a hill,” and NBC Sports, a relay broadcaster, said, “The only thing Fujinami can improve is his pitching. That’s all. He gave a negative evaluation, saying, “His fastball and splitter are good, but he can’t find the strike zone in the end.”
It remains to be seen whether Fujinami, who has fallen from an Ohtani rival to a major league side dish, can find a breakthrough.