The New York Mets have decided to exclude Shintaro Fujinami from the 40-man roster of the Major League Baseball on Monday (Korea time). They say it is not helpful to the Mets’ current strength.

Fujinami, who has been called the “rival of Shohei Otani” since he was an amateur, caught the eye of scouts by throwing 150-km-per-hour fastballs when he was a high school student in Osaka Toin, and was nominated by the Hanshin Tigers in the first round of the rookie draft of the Japanese pro baseball in 2012. Fujinami has gone on a solid path, acquiring double-digit wins for three consecutive years, including 10 wins from his debut season. However, the trend did not continue.

Fujinami has only won 15 games in six years until 2022, starting to show a slight decline in the 2017 season. Nevertheless, he challenged the Major League based on his 57-54 record and an 11th-hold ERA of 3.41 in 189 appearances in 10 seasons in Japan. As a result, he succeeded in wearing his dream big league uniform by signing a contract with the Oakland Athletics, and raised expectations by recording three wins and no losses in five exhibition games with an ERA of 3.86.

However, Fujinami’s performance was disastrous since the beginning of the regular season. In his debut match, Fujinami lost to the Los Angeles Angels for four consecutive games, including allowing eight earned runs (eight earned runs) during two ⅓ innings, causing his ERA to soar to 14.40. As a result, the Oakland Athletics, which recruited Fujinami as a starter, changed its position to the bullpen in a mood that made it cry and eat mustard. Despite this, Fujinami remained sluggish in 11 games in May, with two wins and one loss and an ERA of 10.50.

While falling repeatedly, Fujinami’s performance began to improve little by little in June and moved to the Baltimore Orioles, which were competing for the postseason at the time, and became an FA (free agent) after leaving a record of 7 wins, 8 losses, 5 holds, 2 saves, and an ERA of 7.18 in 64 games last year. Prior to this season, he signed a one-year, $3.35 million contract with the New York Mets to continue his career in the big leagues.

At the time, some U.S. media criticized the Mets’ move to recruit Fujinami, which was in sync. Fujinami started to suffer again from a slump with an earned run average of 12.27 with one loss and two holds in five exhibition games, and was demoted to Triple-A under the U.S. Major League Baseball to start the season. It would be useless for a ball that does not control the ball even if it is sprayed 102.6 miles (165.1 kilometers) of fastballs. Fujinami played in nine games through May 4, posting a disastrous record of 14.09 with one hold, but eventually had a break due to injury.

Fujinami returned to the mound based on the June 26 match, but failed to improve since then, and was excluded from the 40-man roster after struggling with two-hold ERA of 8.27 in 18 games (first starter) this year. Given the current atmosphere, chances are high that Fujinami will not be able to take the mound in the big league this year and his contract with the Mets will be terminated. If this happens, he may not be able to guarantee his life in the big league in 2025. Now, it is a waste to describe him as Ohtani’s rival.

The U.S. Major League Trade Rumors (MLBTR) pointed out that the Mets excluded Fujinami from the 40-man roster despite the recent bullpen being loose due to injuries, saying, “Fujinami had a 3.12 ERA in eight ⅔ after returning from injury, but he was certainly not impressive enough for the Mets to hang on to him.”토토사이트 추천

ABC7 said, “Fujinami’s trip to the Mets was bad news from the beginning. Fujinami was expected to be on the Mets’ 26-man roster after the spring camp, but his ball control was so poor that he sent him to Triple-A to deal with the problem. However, he continued to play rough games,” adding, “The Mets were able to leave Jinami in the minor league after his rehabilitation, but he chose to join the DFA.”