Masashi Fujiwara

Masashi Fujiwara (藤原 仁)

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 9", Weight 158 lb.

• High School Sotoku High School

• Born March 2, 1956 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Japan

BR register page

Biographical Information

Masashi Fujiwara pitched in Nippon Pro Baseball in the 1980s.

Fujiwara was drafted by the Taiyo Whales in the 7th round in 1973 NPB draft but did not sign. After a stint with Nihon Musical Instruments in the industrial leagues, he signed with the Hanshin Tigers as a free agent in 1979. In 1980, the lefty was superb out of the Tigers bullpen (0-1, 2 Sv, 2.25 ERA, .191 opponent average in 40 IP over 50 G). He was 7th in the Central League in pitching appearances, between Yoshitaka Katori and Yutaka Ono. He only pitched 5 games in 1981 (6 H, 5 BB, 3 R in 3 IP). In 1982, he went 6-3 with a 2.41 ERA and .219 opponent average in 11 starts and 9 relief outings but injury cut his season short and he did not pitch for Hanshin for a couple years. Late in '82, he was called for a game-tying balk that began raising tensions that exploded in the Violent Tiger Incident.

In 1985, Masashi was 0-1 with a 6.91 ERA and 2.09 WHIP in 9 games. He did not appear for the Tigers in the 1985 Japan Series, which they won. He was 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in 1986, fracturing his elbow that year, and gave up 4 runs (2 earned) in 9 innings in 1987. Traded to the Nippon Ham Fighters for Noriaki Okabe, he pitched only two games for Nippon Ham, giving up one homer in 1 1/3 IP in 1988.

Overall, Fujiwara was 6-7 with two saves and a 3.26 ERA in 117 NPB games (16 starts). He had a 1.35 WHIP and struck out 127 in 182 innings. He later ran a flower shop for a period.