Baseball: Fujinami ready for Oakland venture, relishes Ohtani rivalry

Shintaro Fujinami spoke of his delight at joining the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday as the hard-throwing right-hander also welcomed the chance to renew his rivalry with two-way star Shohei Ohtani.

The 28-year-old Fujinami signed a one-year contract, reported by American media outlets to be worth $3.25 million in salary, after he was posted by the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League.

"I want to thank the Hanshin Tigers for the 10 years of my professional career in Japan. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to pitch against the best hitters in the world," said Fujinami, who began his press conference in English. "I'm very excited to play for the Oakland A's."

"I'm filled with hope and expectation as I sense the start (of a career in MLB) is approaching. I'll do my best."

The lanky 197-centimeter hurler continued by suggesting people call him "Fuji, like Mount Fuji."

The Osaka Prefecture native is 57-54 with a 3.41 ERA in 189 games over a decade with the Tigers, who are based not far from his hometown, in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. He was 3-5 with a 3.38 ERA last season.

"They rated me the highest and trusted me," he said of his new club. "I'm confident of my fastball and splitter, I'm sure I can control them. The ball is different from Japan's so I've been playing catch with it frequently."

Fujinami, whose fastball has been recorded at 162 kilometers (100.6 miles) per hour, was considered Ohtani's pitching rival in high school and the more polished of the two on the mound early in their pro careers.

The new A's pitcher will likely get to face Ohtani, whose Los Angeles Angels are also in the American League West.

"He's one of the best players in the world. I think there are fans in Japan looking forward to the matchup and I'd like to face him if given a chance," said Fujinami, who named Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs as players he wants to pitch against.

All three were born in 1994 and turned pro out of high school after being selected in NPB's 2012 draft.

Athletics General Manager David Forst said he sees Fujinami as part of their starting rotation.

"It was important to him to have a chance to be a starter," he said. "I expect he'll be in rotation...with his track record and the way he's pitched down the stretch for Hanshin, we know he'll be an important part of our rotation."

Fujinami revealed he got advice from Japanese pitchers, Yu Darvish of the San Diego Padres and Kenta Maeda of the Minnesota Twins, ahead of his move from Japan's majors to MLB and vowed to continue playing to his strengths.

"I believe my average velocity is among the faster ones here too, and I'm confident. I want to challenge batters with my hard stuff," said Fujinami.

"I play for all I'm worth, and I don't want to abandon that. I think that will be my strength despite the cultural differences. I'll try not to lose that."

© Kyodo News