is a Japanese professional baseball

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He previously played in

Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

(NPB) for the

Hanshin Tigers The Hanshin Tigers (Japanese: 阪神タイガース ''Hanshin Taigāsu'') are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and is owned by Hanshin Electric Railway ...

Amateur career

Fujinami started playing

Little League Baseball Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization He and his father were avid fans of the Yomiuri Giants. In 2010, Fujinami entered Osaka Toin High School. In his final year in 2012 he led Tōin as their ace pitcher at the

Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 ''senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 ''haru no kōshien'') or "Senbatsu" (センバツ) ...

and

Japanese High School Baseball Championship The of Japan, commonly known as , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan. The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and ''Asahi Shimbun'', t ...

, where the school won both competitions. During the Summer Koshien tournaments, he pitched two consecutive complete shutout games in both the semi-finals and finals (only surrendering two hits in each game), recorded the fastest pitch of and tied the tournament record for the most strike-outs in the finals match (14). He finished the tournament with a 1.07 ERA in 76 innings, and 90 strikeouts. In the fall, he again pitched for the national team in the 25th 18U(AAA) Baseball World Championship where he recorded a 1.11 ERA in over 24 innings, and got selected into the tournament's Best Nine. In addition, he received the 2012 MVP Award by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) under the 18 & below category for his exemplary performance for the year.

Professional career

Hanshin Tigers

Fujinami was the number 1 pick of the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

, Buffaloes,

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

, and the

Swallows The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

in the

2012 Nippon Professional Baseball draft The 2012 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 25, , for the 48th time at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Toshiba with official n ...

. Hanshin won the four-way lottery and assigned him jersey number 19. He made his debut on March 31, 2013, the third game of the season and the earliest-ever appearance by a rookie drafted out of high school. He recorded the loss by pitching six innings and allowing both runs in a 2-0 loss against the

Tokyo Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Yom ...

Jingu Stadium The is a baseball stadium in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1926 and holds 37,933 spectators. Property of the Meiji Shrine, it is the home field of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows professional baseball team. It also hosts college baseball, incl ...

. He was due to make his second start on April 7 against the

Hiroshima Toyo Carp The is a professional baseball team based in Hiroshima, Japan. They compete in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by , who is a descendant of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda ...

but was replaced by

Minoru Iwata is a Japanese baseball pitcher from Moriguchi, Osaka, Japan and he currently plays for the Hanshin Tigers. He was a member of the Japan team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Early years Iwata entered Osaka Toin High School in 1998. He bec ...

who was unable to pitch in the rained-out game the day before. Instead, he made his next appearance as a relief pitcher. He made his second start on April 14 against the

Yokohama DeNA BayStars The are a professional baseball team in the Japan, Japanese Central League. Their home field is Yokohama Stadium, located in central Yokohama. The team has been known by several names since becoming a professional team in 1950. It adopted its c ...

and recorded his first professional win, pitching six scoreless innings. Fujinami was the fifth pitcher drafted out of high school in NPB history to record his first pro victory the year after they won a Koshien tournament and the first in that group to also record their first pro victory at

Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe, Hyōgo, Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the High school baseball in Japan, national high school baseball tourn ...

. He is also the first pitcher out of high school in franchise history to record their first pro victory at Koshien and the first CL rookie out of high school to record ten or more victories in a season since

Yutaka Enatsu is a former Japanese pitcher regarded as one of the best Japanese strikeout pitchers of all-time. In , he recorded 401 strikeouts, which is still the world record. Enatsu was a bit player in the Black Mist Scandal which embroiled Japanese baseb ...

in 1967. Fujinami quickly gained popularity and was the leading vote getter amongst Central League starting pitchers for the 2013 NPB All-Star Series, with more than 96,000 votes. He started the second game of the All-Star series and pitched two scoreless innings. In the top of the sixth inning, he played a prank on Nippon Ham's

Sho Nakata , nicknamed "Sho Time", is a Japanese professional baseball player playing for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. He plays outfield and first base. Career Earl ...

, a former senior at Osaka Tōin, by throwing 2 very slow balls over his head, which prompted Nakata to throw his bat and jokingly take a few steps toward the mound. Fujinami ended up striking out Nakata. He finished his rookie year at 10-6, with 125 strikeouts and a 2.75 ERA in 23 starts. Fujinami pitched his first career complete game in a July 15 contest against the Dragons with a 13-strikeout effort and only a single run allowed. During a September 15 game against the Carp at Koshien, he hit 157 km/h (98 mph) on the radar gun and set a new personal high and tied the franchise high for velocity.

Tomoyuki Kubota is a Japanese pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He was selected as a member in the 2006 World Baseball Classic The 2006 World Baseball Classic (WBC) was the inaugural tournament between national baseball ...

set the original record on June 21, 2005. Four days later, he earned his 10th victory of the season and became the first pitcher out of high school to record double-digit wins in his first two NPB seasons since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 1999–2000 (16 and 14 wins). The last pitcher to accomplish the feat in the Central League (and in franchise history) was Yutaka Enatsu in 1967–1968 (12 and 25 wins). In the same game, he recorded his sixth RBI of the season, tying Tetsuro Kawajiri's 1996 record of RBIs by a Hanshin pitcher. Fujinami totaled 11 victories for the season, with an ERA of 3.53 and 172 strikeouts in 163 innings. His fastball averaged 149.7 km/h, according to Data Stadium, second only to

Shohei Ohtani , nicknamed "Shotime", is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher, designated hitter and outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional B ...

's 152.5 km/h among starters, and he had an 8.2 swinging strike percentage. While his cutter boasts an 18.7% swinging strike rate, his

forkball The forkball is a type of pitch in baseball. Related to the split-finger fastball, the forkball is held between the first two fingers and thrown hard, snapping the wrist. The forkball differs from the split-fingered fastball, however, in tha ...

generated an even higher rate of 26.0%, with batters hitting .222 off it. His 2.81 fielding independent pitching (FIP) average was the best in the Central League, while his batting average on balls in play was .335, nearly 30 points above the league average. 2015 marked Fujinami's most successful season yet. His 221 strikeouts led the league by a wide margin. (Teammate

Randy Messenger Randall Jerome Messenger (born August 13, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher, best known for his time with the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball. He is tall and weighs . He made his Major League debut on June 2 ...

finished second with 194.) Fujinami also led the league with 7 complete games and 4 shutouts after recording just 2 complete games and no shutouts in his first two seasons. He finished tied for second in the league with 14 wins (in 28 starts) against just 7 losses. His 2.40 ERA ranked fifth in the Central League. He also set several career bests in 2015, including starts, innings (199), wins, ERA, complete games, shutouts, strikeouts, and strikeouts per 9 innings (10.0) Fujinami's 2016 season was not as successful as his previous one. In 26 starts, he had just 7 wins against 11 losses with a 3.25 ERA. In 169 innings pitched, he allowed 152 hits, including a career-high 11 home runs. He recorded 176 strikeouts.

Oakland Athletics

On January 13, 2023, Fujinami signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the

(MLB).

Playing style

Fujinami has a large frame for a pitcher, listed at 6 ft 6 in and 215 lb. With a three-quarters delivery, he throws a fastball topping out at 101 mph, a splitter, and a solid mid-to-high 80s

slider Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

. The splitter has a high whiff rate in his arsenal.https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/flamethrower-shintaro-fujinami-posted-by-japans-hanshin-tigers-could-be-mlb-reliever/

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fujinami, Shintaro 1994 births Living people People from Sakai, Osaka Japanese baseball players Nippon Professional Baseball pitchers Hanshin Tigers players 2017 World Baseball Classic players Baseball people from Osaka Prefecture