Shintaro Fujinami

[Chavez Ravine]

The early analysis in this thread that his fastball wasn’t all that nasty despite the velocity seems spot on with more looks. That’s the nut of it with Fuji I think. 

[OriolesMagic83]

I think I would take Flaherty over Fuji, which is saying something.  I haven't been happy with what he's brought to the O's bullpen.  It seems like a gas can with matches. 

[Billy F-Face3]

6 hours ago, Chavez Ravine said:

The early analysis in this thread that his fastball wasn’t all that nasty despite the velocity seems spot on with more looks. That’s the nut of it with Fuji I think. 

Too straight and not enough spin.

[Frobby]

He’s just not reliable from one game to the next, and he seems to do worse in high leverage situations.  I wouldn’t be shocked if he figures things out and becomes a dominant reliever, but it won’t happen in 2023.   There’s no way I’d put him on the playoff roster.  

[Tony-OH]

He seems to be a guy you has a very thin margin for error in his usage. Can't use him on back to back nights, and can't rest him more than three days.

[RZNJ]

8 hours ago, tntoriole said:

He puts too many mascots at risk for me. 

I would be scared to bat against him.   Some of his misses are extraordinary.

[Roll Tide]

6 hours ago, Chavez Ravine said:

The early analysis in this thread that his fastball wasn’t all that nasty despite the velocity seems spot on with more looks. That’s the nut of it with Fuji I think. 

His fastball is fine. It’s his control that is sporadic. If he can’t throwing anything else for strikes he’s in trouble. Last night I was watching from a noisy bar and I believe he threw 11 for the first 18 for balls. That isn’t going to cut it….I was trying to watch….he’s hit 101-103. I didn’t see one last night but may have missed It . His issues are clearly consistent mechanics. That said…My pen is Perez, Cano, Webb, Wells, Hall, Coulombe, Gibson/Kremer (the one that doesn’t make the rotation, Irvin, and Baumann. 

[Aristotelian]

His FB would be great if he could throw strikes with it and command his splitter. Unfortunately he can't do either. 

Other thing I've noticed is it seems he does the worst on the first couple batters, then eventually settles down, even when he's bad. He is always wasting a couple pitches to the backstop, a couple within a foot of the zone, then after a baserunner or two he bears down and let's it rip down the middle. And when he does that he is pretty good. Could they have him throw like 25 extra pitches in the bullpen to get the rust out of his system?

[Can_of_corn]

Fuji ended up tied for the team lead in wins for the A's.

With five.

[Roll Tide]

On 9/30/2023 at 1:56 AM, Chavez Ravine said:

The early analysis in this thread that his fastball wasn’t all that nasty despite the velocity seems spot on with more looks. That’s the nut of it with Fuji I think. 

I think his fastball is very good. Control is his main issue. When he’s throwing strikes he’s dam near unhittable. When he’s not MLB hitters can sit on the fastball 

[Aristotelian]

10 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Fuji ended up tied for the team lead in wins for the A's.

With five.

He can be poster child for how wins are a meaningless statistic.

[sportsfan8703]

Maybe a mutual beneficial reunion?  The market might not be there for Fuji. He could like our coaches and clubhouse. Maybe we give him a 1/3.5 deal and have all ST and season to build his confidence and coach him up?  He’d have the luxury of us developing him versus signing somewhere for more money and be thrust into a high pressure role. Also, it makes sense if we could option him in case he just completely falls off the rails and needs some AAA time. 

162 is a long season. We could build up his role over the course of the season. Having him in ST would be huge. But what does that cost?  It works for him because we could bring him along slowly and he could end up having a big year to hit FA next year. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by sportsfan8703

[RZNJ]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Maybe a mutual beneficial reunion?  The market might not be there for Fuji. He could like our coaches and clubhouse. Maybe we give him a 1/3.5 deal and have all ST and season to build his confidence and coach him up?  He’d have the luxury of us developing him versus signing somewhere for more money and be thrust into a high pressure role. Also, it makes sense if we could option him in case he just completely falls off the rails and needs some AAA time. 

162 is a long season. We could build up his role over the course of the season. Having him in ST would be huge. But what does that cost?  It works for him because we could bring him along slowly and he could end up having a big year to hit FA next year. 

All I can say is that it will be interesting to see where he winds up, if he gets a ML contract, and how much he gets.   

[NCRaven]

I think that any new bullpen acquisitions will have options.  I don’t believe Fuji can be sent down.

[emmett16]

I’d offer him a minor league deal.  I’d be surprised if he gets a major league deal.