Nippon Job》165 Kilometer Fireball Man Shintaro Fujinami Released Japanese Media Reveals Orix is Highly Interested

Shintaro Fujinami. (File photo, Associated Press)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] Shintaro Fujinami, a fireball man with experience in the United States, was recently placed on the first wave of exclusion list by Yokohama DeNA. According to the Japanese media "Sports News", Orix is highly interested in Fujinami.

The 32-year-old Shintaro Fujinami was once the strikeout king of the Central League. He has started 161 of 198 games in his career in Japan, accumulating 58 wins, 55 losses, 11 relay successes, and an average ERA of 3.46. In addition, Fujinami once soared 102.6 miles (approximately 165 kilometers) when he was with the Major League Orioles in 2023, which is still the fastest record for a Japanese player in the United States.

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Shintaro Fujinami left the 3A Mariners in the middle of last year and moved to the Japanese club Yokohama DeNA in July. However, he only played 3 games in the first team this year, swallowed 1 loss, and had an ERA of 6.30. He had a total of 12 strikeouts in 10 innings, 14 walks, and 1 hit ball. His batting average was 0.300, his WHIP per inning (WHIP) was 2.60, and his fastest ball speed this year was 156 kilometers.

Shintaro Fujinami was eliminated by Yokohama at the end of September. According to the Japanese media "Sports News", Orix has begun investigating Fujinami in order to strengthen its starting pitching force, taking a fancy to his rich experience and past performance, as well as his fireball of more than 160 kilometers.

The team plans to continue to track Fujinami Shintaro's movements and wait for the end of the out-of-competition test meeting in November and relevant players to open negotiations before taking further action. If Fujinami is finally successfully recruited, he will once again form a golden partner with catcher Mori Yuya. The two were teammates at Osaka Kirin High School, which will inevitably attract great attention from the outside world.