Elephant Rumblings: Shintaro Fujinami turns heads in first bullpen session

One of the big things to watch for the Oakland Athletics this spring is the performance of new right-hander Shintaro Fujinami who threw his first side session in an A’s uniform Thursday. A large group of front-office members along with manager Mark Kotsay were there to watch and according to MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos, they came away impressed.

“He definitely comes as advertised in terms of stuff,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay. “Today was a big day for him. The nerves were there, which is great. It tells you that he’s where he belongs. He’s been waiting for this moment for a long time.”

Here is some raw video of Fujinami’s bullpen session:

Fujinami turned heads with his fastball and his splitter. He will throw another bullpen session Sunday and is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session next week. Kotsay also discussed the possibility of a six-man rotation, but was noncommittal.

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