The Oakland Athletics are famous for being the poorest club in the major leagues. This year’s total team salary is also the only one out of 30 clubs that does not exceed 60 million dollars.
Auckland, the “trumpy club,” made some investments last winter. He signed a free agent contract with Japanese right-hander Shintaro Fujinami (29) for 3.25 million dollars (approximately 4.3 billion won) for one year. Fujinami, who once threw up to a maximum speed of 162 km, but had struggled with extreme ball hunting for several years, was unexpectedly guaranteed a starting position and recruited.
$3.25 million isn’t a lot of money for any other team, but it’s a pretty big deal for ‘small market’ Oakland. He is the seventh-highest player on the team, second only to Trevor May ($6 million) among pitchers. However, it seems that the investment cost was blown within a month of opening.
Fujinami pitched in relief in the 8th inning in a home game against the Cincinnati Reds on the 29th (Korean time), but collapsed with 2 hits, 3 walks, 1 strikeout and 2 runs in 1 inning. The total number of pitches was 36, but the pitching was so bad that strikes and balls equaled 18 each.
In the 8th inning, trailing 5-8, Fujinami, who made a relief mound with one out and second base, struck out the first batter, Spencer Steer, on a swing, but was hit in time by Tyler Stevenson and allowed the successor runner to run. In the eighth, he allowed three consecutive walks to Henry Ramos, Nick Senzel, and Stuart Palechild before giving up runs on a wild pitch. He was steeled after a timely hit by Jonathan India and conceding an extra run. The score was 5-11, and the victory was completely over. Losing 7-11, Auckland fell into a four-game losing streak. 크크크벳
Until this day, Fujinami is recording 4 losses and an average ERA of 13.00 without a win in 6 games this year. He started the first four games of the season, but lost all of them, batting with a 14.40 earned run average.
Eventually, he switched positions to the bullpen. Against the Los Angeles Angels on the 27th, it was not bad with 2 hits, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts and 1 run (visa book) in 2 innings, but his second appearance was greatly disrupted. He can’t even be used as a chase team.
The average velocity of his four-seam fastball reaches 97 mph, but he is easily attacked with a .323 hit rate. The number of revolutions is 1865, which is the lowest in the major leagues. He struck out 16 in 18 innings, but with 16 walks, his pitches didn’t work.
It is already a club without money, but Fujinami, who spent a lot of money, is in an atmosphere of becoming a failure. Oakland, whose mound completely collapsed with a team ERA of 8 points (8.05), is having its worst April with a record of 5 wins and 22 losses and a winning percentage (.185) of less than 20%.