Shintaro Fujinami Provides Excitement to the A's Off-Season
The A's came to terms with Shintaro Fujinami of the NPB's Hanshin Tigers on Wednesday, though the terms have not been announced and the deal is still pending a physical. Assuming that he passes the physical, let's get to know the A's new right-hander.
For starters, he's been clocked at 101 with his fastball according to The Japan Times. Seems like a good starting point. He averaged 96 on his heater in 2022 per Sports Info Solutions, who also note that he has a pretty wicked splitter. It has also been reported that he was using his splitter more often in 2022, which led to a bit of a career resurgence for the soon-to-be 29-year-old.
Fujinami was in the same draft class as Shohei Ohtani, and was even selected before Ohtani. There were some pretty high expectations for Fujinami as a youngster, being inserted into Hanshin's rotation immediately as a 19-year-old.
He started having some command issues in 2017, going from walking three or so per nine innings to about six. That season also started Fujinami being sent to the Tigers' farm team, and he's split time between the main team and the farm team each year since, including in 2022.
With the farm team in 2021, he posted a 2.97 ERA with 11 strikeouts per nine innings, and 4.8 walks per nine across 39 1/3 innings. This past season in 40 2/3 innings, Fujinami posted a 1.97 ERA with a pretty similar strikeout rate, 11.1, but his walk rate went down to 3.3 per nine. When he was called to the main club, that walk rate went down even further to 2.8 per nine.
With the main club in 2022, Fujinami tossed 66 2/3 innings and accumulated a 3.38 ERA in 16 appearances, ten starts. In his final seven starts, he really seemed to turn a corner, going 43 2/3 innings while posting a 3.09 ERA and striking out 27% of the batters he faced while walking just 5%.
With Fujinami and Ohtani being in the same draft class, and now the same division, there are going to be plenty of comparisons made between the two players.
For right now, I just want to look at their splitters, because that has been such an effective pitch for Ohtani on the mound. When he first came over in 2018, he used it 22.4% of the time and hitters couldn't do anything with it, batting just .036. He uses it less now, just 12% of the time, but has gained two miles per hour on his split, up to 89 mph.
Per Sports Info Solutions, Fujinami's split sits 91 mph as a starter, and at 92 as a reliever, and he had a 34% whiff rate on the pitch. When batters did make contact, it was a ground ball 66% of the time.
The key for Fujinami nailing down one of the A's rotation spots could be the development of his slider during spring training. Part of the reason he was more successful in those final seven starts is that he used his troublesome slider a bit less and instead went to his more trusty splitter.
It was reported by Jeff Passan that Fujinami is expected to join the rotation, but what the A's specifically offered him is going to matter here. Did the front office offer him a chance to compete for a starting job in spring training, with the fallback plan being to put him in the bullpen? Or is the plan to just put him in the rotation to begin the season and see what happens?
What was discussed could have a huge impact on how the A's approach the coming days and weeks with how they construct their roster, because there are a number of guys in the mix for a spot in the rotation, and one of those spots could have just been handed out. Granted, not many options in the A's rotation have the upside that Shintaro Fujinami possess, either.