Shintaro Fujinami

Name (Japanese): 藤浪 晋太郎

Career Stats:

Brief Biography:

Shintaro Fujinami was born and raised in south Osaka. He started playing baseball in his first year of elementary school, and represented Japan in an international tournament at age 15. As a high schooler at Osaka Toin, he pitched his team to the 2012 spring and summer national tournament championships. In the finals of the summer tournament, he tied a record by fanning 14 batters, and went the distance while allowing just two hits. That fall, he once again represented Japan at the Under-18 Baseball World Championship. He was named to the tournament all-star team, throwing 24 ⅓ innings with a 1.11 ERA. As a high schooler, he was called the “Darvish of Naniwa” (Naniwa is a ward in Osaka), and was regarded more highly than Shohei Ohtani by Japanese scouts. In fact, he was selected in the first round of the 2012 NPB draft by four teams (Hanshin, Orix Buffaloes, Chiba Lotte Marines, and Yakult Swallows). Tigers’ manager Yutaka Wada pulled the winning lottery ballot, giving the team the rights to sign him.

Fujinami reached a deal with the Tigers and was given number 19. He established a new record by starting the third game of the 2013 season – an earlier debut than any high school graduate in NPB history since the inception of the draft in 1966. He lost the game despite throwing six innings of two-run (one earned) ball. His second appearance was out of the bullpen, as his start got pushed due to a rainout the previous day. In his second start (third mound overall), April 14 against the Yokohama DeNA Baystars at Koshien Stadium, Fujinami wowed the home crowd with six shutout innings, earning his first career win. Pulled back muscles sidelined him for a few weeks in May, but his return to action had the media in a frenzy: May 26 at Koshien Stadium against Shohei Ohtani and the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Their first battle saw Fujinami get the upper hand, as Ohtani hit a harmless fly to left, but Ohtani recorded doubles in his next two at-bats. Nevertheless, Fujinami threw seven innings of one-run ball to earn the win.

Fujinami continued to play outstanding ball after this, picking up his 10th win on August 31 against the Carp. This was enough to earn him CL Pitcher of the Month for August (4 W, 1.07 ERA), giving the Tigers four straight months of winning the award. Fujinami finally lost at Koshien Stadium for the first time ever (14 wins in 16 starts), including high school, on September 7. He did not win the rest of the way, but was still the first high school graduate to earn double-digit wins in Central League history since Yutaka Enatsu (Tigers) did it in 1967.

The 2014 season started with a bang, as Fujinami hit his first (of three) career home run in Hiroshima on April 15. That said, he had quite a few rough outings in the first half of the season and only really hit his stride during interleague in June. He threw his first career complete game in early July, and on August 1 (the 90th anniversary for Koshien Stadium), he tied a club record by fanning seven straight batters in a no-decision against the Yokohama Baystars. He became the first pitcher since Daisuke Matsuzaka (2000) to reach double digits in wins two straight years out of high school on September 19. That year in the postseason, he became the youngest pitcher in CL history (20 years, six months) to earn a playoff victory, throwing 7 innings of 1-run baseball against the Yomiuri Giants.

Fujinami was selected to the Samurai Japan team in the spring of 2015 and played in an exhibition match against a team of European representatives. A couple of months into the regular season, he really established himself as the team’s ace. From midway his start on May 14 against the Yakult Swallows all the way through June 3 against the Chiba Lotte Marines, he went 32 straight innings without giving up a single run. This stretch included his first career complete-game shutout, which came on May 20 against the Yomiuri Giants at Koshien. (His streak ended with a couple of unearned runs.) He made the all-star game for the third straight year (and won MVP in one of the games), picked up his 10th win for the third straight season on August 14 (the first rookie to do so out of high school since Matsuzaka in 2001), and also reached the 200-strikeout mark for the first time in his career (becoming the first pitcher since Yu Darvish to do so). He was once again selected to represent Japan in a fall exhibition series, but withdrew due to shoulder pain.

Unfortunately, the 2016 season was the beginning of Fujinami’s downward spiral. Though he won his first three decisions, he was not as dominant as he had been in 2015. In fact, he then went six straight starts without picking up a single win. Things really came to a head during his start against the Hiroshima Carp on July 8 at Koshien Stadium. He clearly did not have his best stuff on that night, walking several and surrendering the lead to the visitors. Manager Tomoaki Kanemoto kept him in the game despite his high pitch count and ineffectiveness. In the end, he went 8 innings, throwing 161 pitches and walking five (and hitting another). He did strike out 13 batters but was also on the hook for 8 runs. Kanemoto said Fujinami needed to learn what it takes to be an ace pitcher and take responsibility and go deep every start, no matter what it took. Somehow, Fujinami was named to the all-star team for the fourth straight season, and had a decent second half, but still finished the year having failed to meet his manager’s (and the fans’) expectations.

Despite a subpar 2016, Fujinami was named to the 2017 Samurai Japan team for the World Baseball Classic. However, he only appeared in one game, in which his control seemed to be a problem. His first start of the regular season perpetuated things and could be seen as the beginning of the end of “good Fujinami” (part 1). On April 4, at Kyocera Dome against the Yakult Swallows, he walked 8 runners and gave up 5 hits in 5 innings of work. Towards the end of his start, he threw one up and in on Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, and the ball appeared to hit him directly in the head (slow-motion replays revealed it glanced off his shoulder). The result was a benches-clearing brawl that featured battery coach Akihiro Yano being thrown to the turf by Wladimir Balentien. After that game, Fujinami’s control remained poor (36 walks in 6 starts) until his first farming on May 27. When at last he returned to the top squad in mid-August, he continued to walk and hit batters at an alarming rate. He made an appearance out of the bullpen in garbage time during the playoffs, and looked more like his young, dominant self.

The 2018 season produced three bright spots for Fujinami, who clearly had lost his confidence. First, on June 15 against the Rakuten Eagles, he went six shutout innings, striking out nine and earning his first win in over a year. On the hero’s podium, he talked about how comfortable he felt on the mound in Sendai, leading to speculation that perhaps pressure from Hanshin fans at Koshien was getting to him. Less than two weeks later, he hit his first career grand slam at Yokohama Stadium, becoming the first pitcher in 19 seasons to accomplish the feat. Finally, late in the season, he threw his first complete game shutout in two years, picking up his fifth win to reach 50 for his career.

For the first time in his career, Fujinami started a season on the farm in 2019. He did not make his top-squad debut until August 1, which ended up being his lone game. Once again, control issues plagued him and he was unable to make it through the fifth inning of that game. But he had not yet hit rock bottom.

The 2020 season was delayed due to the onset of Covid-19, and though players were told to stay home, Fujinami and some teammates met for a dinner party with some women. Fujinami was, at first, the only named person in the “scandal” because he was the first to test positive for Covid. He held a press conference in April and apologized for his careless behavior, but also said he allowed his name to be publicized in the hopes that it might get some attention that would lead to people taking the pandemic more seriously. In any case, he did not start the year on the top squad, but instead got called up a month into the year. He did collect a win in August (his first in nearly 2 years) but also established a club record in early September by allowing 11 runs in one start. Though he got demoted soon thereafter, a Covid cluster resulted in the team being shorthanded and he was called up at month’s end to pitch out of the bullpen. This seemed to be just what the doctor ordered, as his control was no longer an issue the rest of the season. He allowed just 3 runs in 13 innings, walking no batters. He also established a personal best (and temporary club record, broken by Robert Suarez in 2021) by throwing 162 km/h (101 mph).

Somehow, Fujinami ended up being named Opening Day starter for the 2021 season. He kept the Yakult Swallows under wraps for the most part, though he only lasted 5 innings (no decision). He stayed in the rotation for a spell, even delivering his third career home run in a 2-0 win against the Swallows at Koshien Stadium on April 16. That home run made him the first pitcher in team history since Yutaka Enatsu (August 30, 1973) to provide the game’s lone runs via a home run. However, aside from that highlight, this was a season to be forgotten for Fujinami. He started the second-fewest number of games in his career, had his worst walk percentage, and spent more time in the bullpen than he did in the rotation.

Though he was expected to start one of the team’s first six games in 2022, he was named the emergency Opening Day starter due to ace Koyo Aoyagi testing positive for Covid-19 during the preseason. Though he threw well in that game (7 IP 3 R), he did not factor into the decision. He did not pitch particularly well in his next two starts, and on April 13, he tested positive for Covid-19. Two weeks later, he threw some tune-ups on the farm, and received a call-up to the top squad at the end of May as a reliever. Since those mounds went well, he was sent back down to the farm to recalibrate himself as a starter. Though he got called back up in early July, the rotation was doing so well that he did not get a chance to start a game until August 6. That start and his next one went really well (3 runs in over 13 innings of work) but neither resulted in him in a win. That elusive W had to wait until August 20 against the Giants, when he went 7 innings and allowed just one run (see video below). It looked as though Fujinami was back to where he was in 2015, and he even became the 8th fastest pitcher to reach 1000 career strikeouts in NPB history (based on career innings pitched) on September 9. He was relegated to the bullpen late in the year when the schedule became slightly irregular (make-up games, lots of holes in the schedule), but he ended the year on a strong note, delivering six quality starts out of 7.

On October 17, it was made public that Fujinami had requested that the Tigers post him that offseason. The club did so on December 1. Various sources broke the news on January 12 that Fujinami had reached a one-year deal with the Oakland Athletics for the 2023 season. He would wear #11 for his new team.

“Fuji” started the season in the rotation, but after four outings, had an ERA of 14.40 and was relegated to the bullpen. Early struggles in the bullpen did not sway the team’s trust in him, and he rewarded them with six strong weeks. From June 5 until July 18, Fujinami allowed just 5 earned runs in 19 innings, striking out 20 and walking just six batters (including none after June 18).

On July 19, MLB announced that the A’s had traded Fujinami to the Baltimore Orioles for left-handed minor leaguer Easton Lucas. Since both #11 and 19 (his number with the Tigers) were taken, he went with #14. His debut on July 21 saw him give up a leadoff home run, but a clean inning after that.

Related Articles:

Club Requests No Fujinami Bashing (July 6, 2018)

Give Fujinami “Special Treatment” (April 28, 2018)

Fujinami Scouted by MLB (August 21, 2015)

Fujinami Hurls 152 in Win vs. Baystars (July 25, 2015)

Fujinami Chimes in About Messenger (April 20, 2015)

Is Fujinami Good Enough for MLB? (August 10, 2014)

Fujinami and the Art of Pitching (March 2014)