Trade season is amongst us, and the Orioles are already making moves. After moving into first place a mere few hours earlier, O’s GM Mike Elias turned his attention to filling a glaring hole on the roster, the bullpen.
According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand and MASN’s Roch Kubatko, the Orioles have acquired right-handed pitcher Shintaro Fujinami from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for minor league left-handed pitcher Easton Lucas.
Fujinami, who possesses a 102 mph fastball, will assume a bullpen role with the Birds, a glaring hole over the last few weeks. The 29-year-old from Sakai, Japan, is 5-8 with an 8.57 ERA across 34 games, seven starts, with holds across 49.1 innings. He has struck out 51 batters and has a WHIP of 1.66.
Over his last 15 games (two starts), Fujinami is 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA. In that span, he’s thrown 16.2 innings with an 18:5 strikeout to walk ratio and a 1.08 WHIP, so there are huge strides in his game.
Fujinami signed a one-year, $3.25 million free agent contract over the winter. Working in shorter stints has pushed the average velocity on his four-seam fastball from 97 mph to the 99-100 mph range. He’s also leaned more heavily on a 93-94 mph splitter while scaling back on his mid-80s cutter.
Easton Lucas was drafted in 2019 by the Marlins and acquired by the Orioles the same year when the organization traded Jonathan Villar to the Miami Marlins.
Lucas, 26, is 1-0 with three holds and a save across 21 games this season, with a 2.93 ERA. He has pitched 30.2 innings with 38 strikeouts and has a 1.04 WHIP.
To make room for Fujinami on the 40-man roster, the Orioles have designated infielder Josh Lester for assignment. In 11 big league games for Baltimore this season, Lester hit .182/.217/.182 with four hits and four RBIs.
Welcome to Birdland, Shintaro Fujinami!
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