Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Gets second win Tuesday
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Fujinami (2-5) got the win against Atlanta on Tuesday, retiring the only batter he faced on a foul pop-up.
Fujinami, who's experienced a mostly nightmarish start to his MLB career after a largely successful multi-season stint in Japan, fittingly got the victory on a night in which the Athletics established only their second two-game win streak of the season. The starter-turned-reliever has his own modest stretch of success going at present, as he's allowed just an earned run on one hit over the 2.1 innings covering his last three appearances, a sample in which he hasn't walked a batter after issuing 24 free passes over his first 27.2 frames.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Takes loss in relief Wednesday
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Fujinami (1-5) took the loss against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowing two earned runs on a hit and two walks over two-thirds of an inning. He struck out one.
Fujinami's nightmarish debut MLB campaign took another dark turn with Wednesday's performance, which saw him concede multiple earned runs for the second straight appearance and fifth time overall across nine relief outings. The former NPB hurler put three of the first four batters he faced to open the ninth on base -- one via intentional walk -- before exiting, and he then saw Adrian Martinez allow two of them to come across via a sacrifice fly and single, respectively. Fujinami's ERA and WHIP ballooned to 12.62 and 2.14, respectively, with Wednesday's outing, and it's certainly fair to wonder how much longer he can be kept around at the big-league level in any capacity, even on a non-contending team.
Fujinami fired 2.1 scoreless, hitless relief innings during which he allowed a walk and recorded two strikeouts in Wednesday's loss to the Yankees.
The nearly perfect multi-inning outing qualifies as one of Fujinami's most encouraging stints on the mound during his brief time in an Athletics uniform. The offseason acquisition has struggled considerably with control, yet he recorded his seven outs on an economical 35 pitches while facing a dangerous lineup Wednesday. Fujinami's 12.52 ERA and 2.04 WHIP are stark reminders of how far he has to go in completely righting the ship, but he should continue to receive regular opportunities to do so in low-leverage situations.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Struggles continue in bullpen
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Fujinami allowed three earned runs on four hits over 1.1 innings of relief in a loss to the Royals on Sunday.
The demoted starter also surrendered three earned runs on three walks over just one-third of an inning during the series opener on Friday night, making it a forgettable weekend for the offseason acquisition from Japan. Control has typically been Fujinami's undoing -- he's carrying an 8.3 BB/9 across 20.2 innings despite not allowing a walk in two of his last three appearances -- and he therefore appears destined to pitch in fantasy-irrelevant spots for the foreseeable future.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Struggles in relief Friday
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Fujinami allowed two earned runs on two hits, three walks and a wild pitch across one inning of relief in Friday's loss to the Reds. He struck out one.
Following a solid two-inning relief debut Wednesday against the Angels, Fujinami turned in an outing reminiscent of the ones that earned him a demotion from the starting rotation. The Japanese rookie got just 18 of his 36 pitches into the strike zone during his time on the mound and allowed runs on a pair of singles and a wild pitch. Fujinami projects to continue seeing low-leverage opportunities until he's able to put together a sustained stretch of efficient pitching.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Shifting to relief role
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Fujinami will be used out of the bullpen until further notice, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.
Fujinami has struggled as a starter through the first few weeks of the 2023 campaign, accruing a 14.40 ERA and 2.07 WHIP with a 12:12 K:BB across 15 frames. "We're going to put him in the pen and try to use him in a leverage role where we could watch him throw strikes and get his fastball command back," said manager Mark Kotsay, per Gallegos. "Not to say he can't return into the rotation, but in the short term, we're going to assess him in that direction."
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Takes loss despite quality start
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Fujinami (0-3) took the loss Saturday, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks over six-plus innings during a 3-2 loss to the Mets. He struck out five.
Aside from a solo shot from Pete Alonso in the fourth inning, Fujinami was sharp through six innings. However, he surrendered a leadoff home run to Mark Canha in the seventh and was pulled after walking the next batter. That baserunner ended up coming around to score on a go-ahead, RBI double by Brandon Nimmo, so three runs were charged to Fujinami. Despite picking up a third straight loss, Fujinami took a major step in the right direction Saturday and will look to build on his success during his next start, which is tentatively scheduled next weekend's three-game set at Texas.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Set to start every Saturday
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Fujinami will start once a week on Saturday's to open the season, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Previous reports indicated that Fujinami would start every six days, meaning they could use a five-man rotation in weeks when they have an off day. The decision to lock Fujinami into a once-a-week role to ease his transition from Japan means the Athletics may be forced to turn to six starters on a regular basis, though the team has yet to clarify its full plans. Assuming he does indeed exclusively pitch on Saturday's, Fujinami's first three outings will be home against the Angels, away against the Rays and home against the Mets.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Will start every sixth day
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Fujinami will start every sixth day this season for the Athletics, Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
That's the schedule Fujinami is used to from his time in Japan and the A's want to keep it that way, at least for now. Some early-season off days will allow the club to go with five starters for a while, but eventually it will have to use a six-man rotation and/or a spot starter in order to incorporate the plan for Fujinami.
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Athletics' Shintaro Fujinami: Lands in Oakland
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Fujinami agreed Wednesday with the Athletics on a one-year contract, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
According to Passan, the 28-year-old right-hander is expected to slot into the Oakland rotation while he makes the jump to MLB after spending the past 10 seasons in his native Japan with Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers. Fujinami stands at imposing 6-foot-6 and sports an upper-90s fastball that can touch the triple digits, but he didn't dominate against NPB competition to the extent his skill set might suggest. While moving between the rotation and bullpen in 2022 for Hanshin, he turned in a 3.38 ERA and struck out 23.6 percent of the batters he faced. He was able to trim his walk rate to a palatable 7.5 percent after often struggling with his control in his prior seasons with Japan, but the move to MLB could make it difficult to maintain that improvement while he faces higher-caliber hitters.
