Manabu Fujita

Manabu Fujita (藤田 学)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb.

• High School Minami Uwa High School

• Born May 9, 1955 in Minami Uwa-gun, Ehime Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Manabu Fujita pitched 11 seasons for the Nankai Hawks. His son Takashi Fujita was with the Japanese national team.

Fujita was a first-round pick in 1973 NPB draft. He went 11-3 with a 1.98 ERA in 1976 with only 25 walks in 149 2/3 IP. He was named Pacific League Rookie of the Year. He was second in the league in ERA behind only Choji Murata. In 1977, he had a 16-13, 3.28 season and made the PL All-Star team.

An All-Star again in 1978, Fujita went 16-11 with a 2.87 ERA and just 42 walks in 231 2/3 IP. He was 4th in ERA behind Keishi Suzuki, Yutaro Imai and Hisashi Yamada. He fell to 2-5, 8.67 with a .345 opponent average and 10 homers in 27 IP in 1979 and was 3-4 with a save, 5.53 ERA and .321 average allowed in 1980.

The Ehime native had one last good season in 1981 at 13-11, 3.67 with a third All-Star nod. He struggled after that - 6,8, 5.23, .329 in 1982, 2-6, 6.26, .316 in 1983, 2-0, 5.87 in 1984, 1-4, 6.28, .326 in 1985 and one run in one inning in 1986.

The former Rookie of the Year ended up his career with a 72-65, 3.88 record and one save in 213 games in Nippon Pro Baseball. He walked 268 in 1,186 1/3 innings. He later coached for Nankai (1987-1992), the Daiei Hawks (1996-2001), the Orix BlueWave (2002-2003) and Softbank Hawks (2007-2008). He was a baseball commentator on TV as well for a period.

Sources

• Japanbaseballdaily.com
• Japanese Wikipedia Entry