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It has emerged that the Orix Buffaloes are looking into acquiring pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (32), who was recently released by DeNA. Strengthening the starting rotation was this season’s top priority after the team finished fourth, and the club reportedly has its eye on his 160+ km/h fastball and relatively injury-free track record, planning to keep tabs on him until negotiations open after the NPB tryout camp. If the move happens, it would also revive the “Osaka Toin battery” pairing with catcher Tomoya Mori, drawing plenty of attention. On the thread, excitement about his talent mixed with skepticism, given his history of failing to fix his control issues across several teams.
It was learned on the 9th that the Orix Buffaloes have begun looking into pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (32), who was released by DeNA. Aiming to bolster their starting rotation — a key issue for the team — they’re focusing on his blazing fastball of over 160 km/h, along with his experience and track record. The plan is to keep tracking his situation until negotiations open after the tryout camp held in November. Should the move come together, it would revive the “Osaka Toin battery” with catcher Tomoya Mori (31) — and that’s bound to draw huge attention.
Orix has firmly set its sights on next season. After sinking to fourth place and a sub-.500 finish for the first time in two years, the club reviewed its performance across the whole season and made strengthening the rotation its top priority. They drew up a list of candidate pitchers, both domestic and international — and Fujinami was one of the central names on it.
This season he made only three top-team appearances for DeNA, but his 160+ km/h fastball shows no sign of losing steam. Another appealing point is that he hasn’t had any major injury layoffs over his career. He has 58 career wins in NPB and also pitched in 64 major league games — plenty of both results and experience. At the end of September, once it became clear he wasn’t part of DeNA’s plans for next season, Fujinami expressed hope for the future, saying, “Toward the end of the season I felt like I was getting back to pitching like myself. I’d love the chance to keep playing in NPB.” Orix had already been quietly tracking his situation behind the scenes ever since.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Farm teams share the same region, so we'll get caught in the blast too
Hanshin's farm team actually faces Orix pretty often though
Interleague play: "Nice to meet ya, buddy"
My condolences to Pacific League batters and Farm League West hitters
Does Orix have some kind of plan?
Sounds like they're pinning a sliver of hope on Tomoya Mori.
Well, since he's seen Fujinami at his absolute best, maybe there's an outside chance he can get him right again?
Signing him is a gamble, but
if you've got room to spare, you'd probably take the bet.
don't go dumping him on the rest of the Pacific League
I have no idea what you're talking about
If anything, that'd be Hiroshima —
he got completely broken by Kuroda chewing him out
seems like a good fit
Are they stupid?
Far better to bet on drafting a bunch of high-school rookie pitchers and developing them instead.
Finding a replacement for a World Series MVP-caliber player — isn't that basically impossible?
and whenever Satoteru (Teruaki Sato) gets hit by a pitch, send pitcher Fujinami out as the retaliator
Because Fujinami's power is the romance that baseball fans live for!! (riffing on Char Aznable's famous line from Gundam)
He's got the talent, just not the technique.
Probably Kanemoto's fault (former Hanshin manager Tomoaki Kanemoto)
I hear any manager would jump at the chance to develop him.
Apparently he just doesn't listen to anyone, though
(Honestly he doesn't even throw serious bullpens and his grouping's bad, but sure, let's just call it "yips")
Background and key points of this topic
Shintaro Fujinami has 58 career wins in NPB and also pitched in 64 major league games, yet he’s also a pitcher whose control problems — dating back to his Hanshin days — have consistently drawn attention. This season Orix finished fourth, a sub-.500 result for the first time in two years, and the thin depth of the starting rotation has remained an issue ever since ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto departed for overseas. Against that backdrop, it isn’t strange that the club would look into a player valued for his track record and blazing fastball. The thread split between an optimistic camp hoping “if his talent finally blooms” and a realist camp countering that “even DeNA couldn’t fix him,” with skeptics pointing to his history of the same issue persisting across multiple teams. It’s worth noting that terms like “yips” used in the thread are speculation from posters, not an official explanation from the team or the player himself. The tryout camp and the start of contract negotiations are still some way off, so nothing about an actual signing has been decided.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “[Baseball] Orix looking into acquiring pitcher Shintaro Fujinami (32).”
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