The Mariners have agreed to a minor league deal with hard-throwing righty Shintaro Fujinami, reports Jon Morosi of MLB Network. The Boras Corporation client will be in big league camp as a non-roster invitee this spring.
Fujinami, 31 in April, came over from Japan in 2023 when he signed a one-year deal with the A’s. After a calamitous start to his big league career in the former Oakland rotation, he moved to the bullpen and wound up settling in nicely. His season-long ERA never really recovered from being routed for 24 runs in his first 15 MLB innings, but Fujinami cruised to a 3.32 ERA, 25.6% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate over his final 21 2/3 innings before being traded to the Orioles — and he did so while averaging an eye-popping 99.5 mph on his heater and posting a mammoth 15% swinging-strike rate.
Fujinami got out to a fine start with the O’s post-trade, logging a 3.76 ERA with big strikeout totals in his first 26 1/3 innings. He was roughed up for five runs in his final 3 1/3 innings, spanning five appearances, and finished his time in Baltimore with a pedestrian 4.85 ERA. Still, the underlying numbers looked intriguing.
The Mets took notice of those under-the-hood numbers and inked Fujinami to a one-year contract last winter. He was expected to have a spot in the team’s bullpen but was limited in spring training by shoulder troubles. He began on the season on the injured list and rehabbed in the minors before being recalled in early May to move to the 60-day injured list (and open a 40-man spot) due to what was termed a shoulder strain. Fujinami was shelved until late June.
In 24 1/3 innings upon being reinstated in the minors, Fujinami posted a 1.85 ERA and 29-to-12 K/BB ratio. He did so with a 97.3 mph average fastball that was more than two full miles per hour shy of his 2023 mark, however, and he wilted in the season’s final weeks, yielding eight runs in his final 4 1/3 frames of minor league ball.
Fujinami revealed back in October that he planned to play winter ball on the heels of that injury-wrecked year. The aim was to catch on with another big league club, and he’s now done just that after thriving in the Puerto Rican Winter League. In 20 2/3 innings with los Gigantes de Carolina, Fujinami boasts a 3.05 ERA, 26.7% strikeout rate and 12.2% walk rate. Command remains an issue, but the right-hander’s blistering fastball, ability to miss bats and generally strong winter showing will earn him another opportunity to return to the majors.
The Mariners have a track record of finding hidden gems on the bullpen market and will hope Fujinami can be their latest rags-to-riches success story. Seattle’s bullpen is anchored by star righty Andrés Muñoz, and he’ll have Collin Snider, Trent Thornton, Gregory Santos and Tayler Saucedo in his setup corps. Options to fill out the bullpen include Gabe Speier, Eduard Bazardo, Carlos Vargas, Troy Taylor, Cody Bolton and waiver pickups Tyler Jay and Hagen Danner, among others. The M’s also have powerhouse reliever Matt Brash on the mend from last May’s Tommy John surgery, and they could get a look at Jackson Kowar early in the season as well; he underwent his own Tommy John procedure late last March.