Kyuji Fujikawa

Kyuji Fujikawa (藤川 球児) is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher.

He pitched for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Fujikawa went on to Kochi Commercial High School, where he both pitched and played right field in the 79th National High School Baseball Championship in his second year (the equivalent of eleventh grade in the United States).

His older brother, Junichi, was the team's starting catcher.

While his team lost in the second round to Heian High School, Fujikawa clocked 144 km/h in the regional Kochi Tournament and had been regarded as one of the better high school prospects in the prefecture.

Fujikawa was born in Kōchi, Kōchi, in 1980, making him a member of the so-called Matsuzaka Generation.

His name "Kyuji" literally means "baseball kid" in Japanese, and is often used as part of the phrase "Kōkō-kyuji" (高校球児) to refer to a high school baseball player.

It was reportedly given to him by his father because he had thrown a no-hitter in a sandlot baseball game the day before Fujikawa was born.

He began playing baseball for the Little League team "Kodakasa White Wolf", first as a shortstop, then later as a pitcher.

Fujikawa was picked in the first round of the 1998 NPB draft by the Hanshin Tigers, one of only four high school pitchers to be selected in the first round (along with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Nagisa Arakaki and Katsutoshi Ishidoh, though Arakaki did not end up signing that year).

Fujikawa's rookie season was uneventful, his perhaps most humorous moment of 1999 occurring during Spring training when he was forced to miss part of the team's workouts to attend remedial classes at his high school because his grades had been so poor.

It was a unique situation made possible by the fact that the Tigers' Spring training site, Aki, happened to be close to the city of Kochi where Fujikawa's high school was located.

Fujikawa was called up to the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") team for the first time the following year (2000), coming on in relief in the Tigers' season opener against the BayStars on March 31 in his professional debut.

He saw his first start in his fourth season, 2002, taking the mound against the BayStars on July 21 but lasting just four innings (he gave up two runs).

He earned his first career win on September 11, holding the Yakult Swallows to one run over eight innings, finishing the season with a 1-5 record and a 3.71 ERA.

However, while the Tigers had hoped that he would blossom as a starter and used him exclusively in that role that season, his career numbers up until 2003 were largely unspectacular.

Relegated to the nigun team ("minor league" or "farm team") with a shoulder injury, Fujikawa decided to take the advice of pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi and rebuild his mechanics from scratch in May 2004.

Fujikawa was called up the ichigun team in the second half of the season, eager to live up to pitching coach Kiyooki Nakanishi's expectations that he would be more effective as a middle reliever than as a starter, and appeared in 26 games, striking out 35 in 31 innings with a 2.61 ERA.

The 2005 season was a breakout year in every sense for Fujikawa, who became a setup pitcher for the Tigers along with hard-throwing left-hander Jeff Williams.

He, Williams and then-closer Tomoyuki Kubota formed one of the most formidable relief pitching trios in Japan, even earning themselves the nickname JFK ("Jeff", "Fujikawa", "Kubota").

He earned the Central League Most Valuable Player award for the month of June and received the most fan votes for Central League relief pitcher (excluding closers) for the NPB All-Star Game.

He recorded his first career save on September 9 against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Fujikawa played an integral role in the Tigers' league title that year, striking out 139 in 92 innings for a 13.55 strikeout rate and holding opposing teams to a 1.36 ERA.

He set a new NPB record for games pitched in a single season with 79 on September 29 against the Yomiuri Giants (Kazuhisa Inao and Tsuyoshi Kikuchihara were tied for the previous record of 78) and extending it to 80 in his last appearance of the season on October 2.

(Kubota holds the current NPB record of 90, established in .) He also led the league with 46 holds, winning the Central League Most Valuable Setup Pitcher award and even garnering MVP consideration (teammate and cleanup hitter Tomoaki Kanemoto eventually won the award).

Fujikawa pitched in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

A prototypical power pitcher, Fujikawa is said to have one of the most explosive fastballs in all of Japanese professional baseball and is one of Japan's premier relievers.

In 2006, Fujikawa was named to the Japanese national team to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

He began the regular season as the Tigers' eighth-inning setup man, but was promoted to closer when Kubota missed playing time due to injury in June.

He set a new NPB record for consecutive games pitched without allowing a run on July 5 against the BayStars with 35 (Kiyoshi Toyoda held the previous record) and set a franchise record for most consecutive scoreless innings pitched on July 11 (320-win pitcher Masaaki Koyama held the previous record of 47).

His streaks stopped at 38 and 47, respectively, when he gave up a run in a game against the Carp on July 12.

Fujikawa was named to the Central League All-Star team for the second straight year, commenting before the All-Star Series that he wanted to "create a baseball world like the one you see in comic books."

He came on in relief in Game 1 (held July 21) at Meiji Jingu Stadium, playfully indicating to then-Seibu Lions slugger Alex Cabrera that he would throw nothing but fastballs by showing him his grip from the mound.

He then proceeded to strike out Cabrera (on four pitches, a ball followed by three swing-and-misses) as well as then-Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters first baseman Michihiro Ogasawara (after he fouled off several pitches).

In Game 2, held at Sun Marine Stadium Miyazaki on July 23, he again came on in relief, striking out Orix Buffaloes slugger Kazuhiro Kiyohara swinging and causing Kiyohara to remark after the game, "I give up... he was throwing a fireball out there."

That season, the Central League had become a two-way race for the league title between the Tigers and the Chunichi Dragons by July.

However, the Tigers struggled after the All-Star break, so much so that the Dragons had built up a nine-game lead in the standings by late August.

The Tigers were subject to widespread criticism from their fans when they were swept by the Dragons in a head-to-head three-game series that month.

Fujikawa, who had been scratched from the roster since August 12 due to a neck injury, returned to the team on August 27, taking the mound in the eighth inning against the Giants and getting the win.

He shed tears in his post-game interview, saying to fans, "Please understand that we players are giving it everything we've got."