Japanese pitcher Shintaro Fujinami will return to Japan.
Japanese sports media “Nikan Sports” reported on the 15th (Korea Standard Time) that Fujinami agreed to a contract with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Japanese professional baseball league.
With this contract, Fujinami will return to the Japanese stage for the first time in three years since 2022.
사진 확대 Fujinami played for Oakland and Baltimore in the last 2023 season. Photo = MK Sports DB
Fujinami challenged the big leagues by signing a one-year contract with the Oakland Athletics in January 2023. At that time, he was known as Otani’s best friend.
But his big league career wasn’t as brilliant as his best friend. He started his career as a starting pitcher for Oakland, but was relegated to the bullpen with a disastrous 14.40 ERA in four appearances.
After switching to the bullpen, he showed a little better performance and was traded to the Baltimore Orioles during the season, but he did not change the situation much. He played 79 innings in 64 games over a year with a 7.18 ERA.
He signed with the New York Mets in the 2024 season, but he was injured and moved around the minor leagues. He pitched 29 games for Triple-A Syracuse, but was sluggish with a 6.68 ERA.
He also participated in the Puerto Rico Winter League last winter, expressing his willingness to return to the big league. He signed a minor contract with the Seattle Mariners, but was sluggish with a 5.79 ERA in 21 appearances for Triple-A Tacoma and was recently released.
Nikan Sports said he sought to try again in the Major League even after his release, but eventually chose to return to Japan.
Before entering the U.S. stage, he pitched in 189 games for the Hanshin Tigers over 10 years, recording 57 wins, 54 losses and a 3.41 ERA. In 2017, he represented the World Baseball Classic (WBC).
[Atlanta (USA) = KIM JAE HO, MK Sports Correspondent]