The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Japanese right-hander Fujinami agrees with A's
By JANIE McCAULEY OAKLAND, Calif©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
9 Comments
Login to comment
Jind
Yubaru
I highly doubt the "A's" will use him as a regular batter, not enough "history" on his ability and no one should ever forget that just about every MLB pitcher and JPB pitcher can hit as well.
Old picture of him too! Over 5 years ago!
garypen
I saw him pitch 11 innings for Hanshin back in 2015. Amazing. I have a Fujinami Tigers jersey.
TorafusuTorasan
Now that both the AL and NL have DH, pitchers seldom are asked to bat. Ohtani is basically the only one who gets 100s of ABs per year, including in NPB. Pitchers do not take the field on their normal rest days except for brawls perhaps. Position players pitching is a bit more common.
Fujinami has spent time on the ni-gun minor league shuttle, so here is hoping he can turn his career around in Oakland.
faranglaos
Doesn't hit well enough to justify putting him at DH.
Kumagaijin
A's still playing "moneyball" obviously. Get a 2 for 1 if they let'em hit.
kaimycahl
My advice he better change his delivery if he hasn't already because from the looks of this picture he is already telegraphing what he is throwing and from my days in the minor leagues we were taught to look at tell tell sign such as ball grip and that will tip you off as to what kind of pitch was coming your way. In this picture his wrist is cocked slightly so that is a tell sign so I know what is coming!!! A sliders even though it is thrown a lot like fastballs but the cocked wrist is the key. He has his index and middle fingers together against the seam of the ball and makes his middle finger give the ball its thrust when delivering his pitch. As you can see he is trying to impart vertical movement in this pitch so the ball can slant downward, this is what makes it hard for hitters to follow if they can't pick up on these movements. A good hit knows!!!.
painkiller
kaimycahlJan. 13 11:33 pm JST
Are you saying he is throwing a slider in this pitcher?
It is either a two-seam fastball or a sinker.
If it were a slider, his index and middle fingers would be next to (touching) each other, and touching only one seam of the ball.
faranglaos
It's a fastball.