Oakland Athletics pitcher Shintaro Fujinami was once considered better than Angels star Shohei Ohtani. A lot has changed since their rivalry in Japan.
Ohtani contributed to turning his longtime rival’s major league debut into a national tragedy in their shared homeland, his bases-loaded single off the left-field wall at the Oakland Coliseum part of theThe first eight runs the Angels scored in their 13-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics were charged toThe meeting of Ohtani and Fujinami on the world’s greatest stage was anticipated from the time they were the two best young pitchers in the Japanese league — except this wasn’t how their...
“I was glad I was able to compete against the best players in the world, not just Ohtani,” Fujinami said in Japanese. Ohtani and Fujinami first met at Japan’s national high school baseball tournament in spring 2012, at which Ohtani played for Hanamaki Higashi and Fujinami for powerhouse Osaka Toin. Ohtani and Fujinami later played together for Japan’s under-18 national team and were part of the same Nippon Professional Baseball draft class. Ohtani, who initially looked as if he was set to sign with the Dodgers, went to the Nippon-Ham Fighters. Fujinami was selected by the Hanshin Tigers, who play in Koshien Stadium, the home of the national high school championships.
When Ohtani and Fujinami faced each other in high school, it was Ohtani who had control problems. Ohtani walked seven and hit four others in that game; Fujinami walked only two. Still, in a country in which the most popular sporting event is the national high school baseball tournament, Fujinami remained a big-name player because of his heroics at Osaka Toin. He was Japan’s answer to Tim Tebow.
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