Shintaro Fujinami is one of the more polarizing topics among the Hanshin Tigers as well as NPB. Once remembered as a high school star on a championship Summer Koshien team, Fujinami has hit a wall in his career and stayed behind for the last three years.
He once showed promise right out of the gate for the Tigers with his ability to strikeout batters and high velocity, but always had control issues. He would go for the strikeout so often that he ended up walking hitters which was his downside. Still, being in his early 20s, Fujinami was viewed by may as the ace of the future where his control would improve.
Since 2017, this has never materialized with his ichi-gun time being reduced each year. For when his pitches were once unhittable, they remain that way for the wrong reasons, where he's known for hitting batters or coming close to it. Any ni-gun reports always indicate his walks or hit by pitches.
Last year, he only had one spot start with an average outing of 4.1 IP and six walks, but one earned run. He is currently sent to the fall Phoenix League continuing to work on his game.
It wasn't long ago when drafted, he was compared to Shohei Ohtani as they were taken in the same year. The media tried building up a rivalry because they once faced each other in a Spring Koshien tournament. Going to opposite leagues made it near impossible to do so.
At the time, Fujinami was considered to be one of the more polished pitchers in the 2012 NPB Draft while Ohtani was raw with better tools. Both career paths have gone in opposite directions since.
Ohtani is currently with the Los Angeles Angels while being a two-way player and only hitting in 2019 after Tommy John surgery.
Sending a player to the Phoenix League to get work is common. However, Fujinami being there to try and repair his pitching, a problem that has been around for years, isn't the most encouraging coming off a year where he chose to send himself to ni-gun before the season started.
Manager Akihiro Yano shouldn't have any emotional ties to him given he didn't draft the 2012 Koshien Star. Fujinami turns 26 in April, meaning his upside and ceiling have all but caved in. At best, he's trying to salvage his career and extend it just by being good enough as an ichi-gun regular.
The late Katsuhiro Nakamura is the general manager who drafted Fujinami. Since then, the Tigers have had two managers after Yutaka Wada left the team in 2015.
With this, there are only a few options that the Tigers can go from here:
Option 1: Pray everything turns around
This has been the status quo that the Tigers have hoped for. With a lack of ichi-gun games, he hasn't found a way to contribute.
Option 2: Keep him as a spot starter
It's a logical thing to do by trotting him out on occasion, but it also would be his ceiling. Not the most ideal situation for a guy who was thought to be an ace when drafted. However, this is the best way to extend his playing career if the Tigers go off matchups and bring him out for select games only.
Option 3: Senryokugai (don't offer a contract)
The deadline to announce players not returning for 2020 already passed, but outright releasing him would be a slap in the face to everyone involved. This likely wouldn't happen until Fujinami is in his 30s.
Option 4: Find a trade partner
This becomes the most complex option of the bunch. Who really wants a former first round pick with a great high school history but is struggling at the NPB level? It's a classic thing to trade guys who are expendable and have no room for.
If it weren't for the facts Fujinami was a first round pick with a lot of hype and Kansai ties, this happens sooner without question. Only problem is, are they willing to swallow the pride? As aforementioned, Yano shouldn't have any connection to an inherited pitcher and would likely give the green light to do this. The other issue is finding a taker.
Every team has their players who are on the bubble or in this case, the fringe of being senryokugai for the following year. Would the Tigers even take the offers?
In the Lions case, I proposed a trade to @TheHanshinTiger with P Shunta Nakatsuka for Fujinami straight up. This would make sense for several reasons with Nakatsuka being a former second round pick, but lacking ichi-gun time, giving more years of control to the Tigers.
Both guys have control issues and are the same age (born in 1994) as well as having connections to both teams they'd go to. Nakatsuka was teammates at Hakuoh University with Yusuke Oyama while Fujinami would be reunited with Osaka Toin battery teammate with Tomoya Mori.
This wouldn't be a match made in heaven, but at least both players would have a much needed change of scenery. Trevor "rejected" my trade proposal, but I'd put it out there if I'm the Lions.
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With all the potential he once had, it has all gone south and its become a tiresome act with Fujinami stuck in ni-gun. The question is, what becomes of his Pro Baseball playing career? Safe to say, it won't be in North America.
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