One of the most interesting relievers in the Mariners' bullpen has had discussions with the team's opening day starter.
The Seattle Mariners will have tough decisions to make for the opening day roster against the Athletics on March 27. There's at least one open bullpen position up for grabs. Possibly as many as three when taking into account Matt Brash and Troy Taylor's respective injuries that will keep them on the shelf to start the year.
Fujinami came stateside 2023 after spending 10 seasons with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. Fujinami pitched for the Athletics and Baltimore Orioles in 2023. He spent all of 2024 in the New York Mets farm system. Fujinami signed a minor league deal with the Mariners on Jan. 30. He has one of the strongest arms at big league camp. But he's struggled with command in his two years in the U.S.by Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports talked about Logan Gilbert sharing some pointers with Fujinami after the latter's bullpen session earlier this week. Gilbert was working on the more technical aspects of his throwing, and Fujinami was throwing like he was in a game. Gilbert, Fujinami and the bullpen catcher met after the sessions. And Fujinami and Gilbert spoke about several things. Originally, Fujinami was curious about what Gilbert was doing on the mound. The conversation turned to legitimate advice given from the 2024 All-Star to Fujinami. “We were talking about external targets and kind of the thought process on the mound,” Gilbert said, “And I recommended ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ because it helped me so much. We were trying to figure out if there was a Japanese version.” The story said the organization believes a lot of Fujinami's struggles are due to him internalizing a lot of his thoughts and mechanics while pitching. According to the article, the Mariners hope Fujinami will trust his stuff more and hope that can be the key to him finding consistency. “Logan does more work on his delivery, but he does it off the mound,” pitching coach Pete Woodworth said. “When he steps on the mound, he is not thinking about , and he’s come to the realization over the last couple of years it doesn’t have to be this perfect movement off the mound for him to be confident. And that’s kind of new and different thinking than the past where it was always repeat your delivery and everything was about the mechanics.” Fujinami has a 5.40 ERA with four strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched across seven appearances with one save in Cactus League play. Whether or not Fujinami makes the opening day roster or not, there's a chance he'll make an appearance for Seattle at some point in 2025. If he manages to figure things out, he can be one of the better reclamation projects for the team in recent history.ANALYSIS: WHAT WOULD A SOLID STRETCH FROM EMERSON HANCOCK LOOK LIKE: If Hancock has a solid stretch in George Kirby's stead, the Mariners could have some interesting choices to make regarding the former first-round pick.Four of the Mariners' five starting pitchers will pitch in the first series of the season against the Athletics.The Mariners will offer all games on a new ROOT sports streaming service with no blackout restrictions for in-market customers.
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