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It’s been reported that DeNA’s Shintaro Fujinami will start against the Giants on the 20th (in Yokohama), vowing to pitch with the same fiery spirit as his words, “I want to be a real man,” as he chases his first win of the season. On 5ch, discussion ranged widely over why a pitcher once mentioned in the same breath as Shohei Ohtani keeps struggling with control problems — from running gags like “Genocide Throw” and “the hand grenade” to commentary from former catcher Akihiro Yano.
August 19, 2026, 5:55 PM
DeNA pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (32) will start against the Giants on the 20th (in Yokohama) as he aims for his first win of the season. On the 19th, he tuned up at Yokohama Stadium. “The main thing is just to attack the strike zone. I’ve been throwing pretty well in the bullpen, so now it’s just about whether I can bring that into the game,” he said.
The 20th is the final game of a three-game series billed as the “Yokohama Men’s Festival.” Fujinami said, “I’m the type who wants to be a real man. I don’t dislike a style that wears its fighting spirit on its sleeve, so I want to keep a cool head and a hot heart,” vowing to close out the festival with a fiery performance.
Source: chunichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Sorry, boy
Give him back
Give me back my dad
Like you always do…
How did he end up like this?
People blame the manager or that game against the Carp, but maybe he just had a weak mentality to begin with.
Fujinami drowned in indulgence, Ohtani didn't.
It's the Ant and the Grasshopper (Aesop's fable).
He just doesn't practice enough to begin with.
Why not just decide to retire already?
Before talking about being a 'real man.'
You say you don't care but you opened the thread and posted anyway lol
Who's he gonna wreck this time?
If Ohtani ever gets targeted with beanballs, they could send Fujinami straight in as a deterrent, and he'd probably pitch more freely too.
Get some decent control first.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Retiring his number is only a matter of time.
It might slip out of his hand and fly at his own teammates instead.
impressive he made it back from the majors without getting punched.
Put your whole soul into it — and lose it! (a twist on the classic baseball motto 'one pitch, one soul')
Take it up with DeNA.
That doesn't really make sense.
The 'it wasn't on purpose so it's fine' theory.
People talk like something went wrong with him along the way, but apparently he hasn't changed at all since day one — he just never developed.
Yeah, we know.
Even in his first three 'good' years, he led the league in wild pitches as a rookie, led in hit-by-pitches in year two, and won the 'triple crown' of walks, hit-by-pitches, and wild pitches in year three.
Even his BB/9 was only ever decent in year one.
Re: #53
Re: #43
Re: #1
Fujinami:
"If they want to be intimidated all on their own, they're welcome to be intimidated all they like (laughs). I just figured that since the lineup had left-handed batters again, I'd need to change how I use my pitch types."
Mac Suzuki:
"Fujinami needs to take responsibility for his own pitching. He should be more careful about what he says and how he acts toward opponents."
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L3198bnPVfI
Lefties are no problem at all
That's why a guy like Sato Teruaki has zero trouble with Fujinami
Morishita's living in hell though
If you're asking why, isn't it because there's no other pitcher around to fill the gap in the rotation?
Background and Key Points
Shintaro Fujinami was Hanshin Tigers’ first-round draft pick in 2012, the same draft class in which Shohei Ohtani went to the Fighters, and for years the two were mentioned in the same breath as generational talents throwing well over 155 km/h. Hanshin and the Yomiuri Giants are Japan’s oldest and fiercest rivalry, which is why a Giants series carries extra weight even now that Fujinami has moved on: he spent time pitching in MLB before returning to NPB with DeNA (Yokohama), and at 32 he is still chasing his first win of the 2026 season as he starts the finale of a marketed “Yokohama Men’s Festival” set.
The thread doesn’t really argue about whether Fujinami is talented — everyone concedes the arm strength — it splits on why his control never came together. Some blame mental weakness, poor work habits, or a specific bad outing against Hiroshima that supposedly broke his confidence. Others, citing former catcher Akihiro Yano, argue there was never anything to fix: he got by purely on velocity in his best years, and his own early-career numbers (rookie wild-pitch leader, year-two hit-by-pitch leader, a “triple crown” of walks/HBP/wild pitches in year three) show the wildness predates any decline.
Readers outside Japan should know the nicknames “Genocide Throw” and “hand grenade” are dark 5ch gallows humor about pitches that endanger batters, not literal endorsement, and that his self-styled “real man” persona is partly a deflection from a control problem that has followed him his entire career rather than something new.
*This article is compiled as excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[DeNA] Shintaro Fujinami to Start vs. Giants on the 20th Chasing First Win of the Season, Vows Fiery Pitching: ‘I Want to Be a Real Man’.”
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