In 1994, Shintaro Fujinami and Shohei Ohtani, who were the same age, were selected as outstanding talents who would lead the Japanese professional baseball team from their high school days. Up until high school days, it was difficult to distinguish between the two players’ superiority and inferiority. In terms of immediate performance, not a few critics sided with Fujinami rather than Otani.
Both players had the physique to expect to break the limits of Asian athletes and the desire to throw fastballs over 150 km/h without hesitation. However, after joining the professional league, the joys and sorrows of the two players began to diverge gradually. While Ohtani began to realize his dream of pitching and hitting as a concurrent job, Fujimi’s graph went downhill due to injury from overwork. The gap between the two players started to widen more and more. So did the favorability of the public opinion.
The story of Ohtani’s success is well known. He chose to play in the Major League ahead of the 2018 season. At that time, he was an international amateur player as he was under 25. Due to lack of bonuses, it was difficult to earn a large annual salary. However, Ohtani boldly jumped out of his seat and stood up. Amid fierce competition to recruit players, some jokingly said that all 30 Major League teams rushed to the team, Ohtani made his Major League debut as an LA Angels player. 온라인카지노
Although pitching and hitting went through tough times such as elbow surgery in 2018, he has accomplished a great feat that he believed would not be able to play in the Major League from 2021. He is qualified as an ace pitcher with 10 wins, and as a batter, as well as a home run king with 40 home runs. As a result, he became the MVP of the American League in 2021 and 2023, becoming one of the most representative icons of the league.
On the contrary, Fujina could hardly get out of the swamp. Even Hanshin treated him like a troublemaker, which did not give a good look to him. After barely getting out of the swamp of injury, he regained his previous speed, but it was hardly considered as top-notch in Japan either. Ahead of the 2023 season, he signed a one-year contract with Oakland to challenge the Major League, but soon faced his limit.
Fujimi started this season as a member of the starting rotation team of Oakland Athletics, but was demoted to the bullpen after slumping. He played in 34 games (seven starts) for the Oakland Athletics, showing a sluggish performance with an 8.57 ERA. After Baltimore acquired Fujimi through a trade, its performance improved a little. However, his ERA (4.85) dropped after transferring to the Major League, which improved.
Both players became free agents after the season. As expected, the two players had mixed feelings. Ohtani became a big hit by signing a 10-year contract worth 700 million dollars with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He easily surpassed Mike Trout, who had the highest record in the Major League history, with a total of 426 million dollars, and became the first gold medalist in the history of sports to reach 700 million dollars in total.
On the contrary, Fujimi is still looking for a job in the Major League. It is so quiet that it is not even mentioned in the local media. Last year’s performance was not good that the market is struggling. If the remaining senior bullpen pitchers are withdrawn, the market will open in earnest, but there is no guarantee of a Major League guarantee contract. The two rivals that excited Japan a decade ago are so different.