Fujimoto at Tigers

Atsushi Fujimoto left Tigers on 30th November when he signed a two year free agent deal with Tokyo Yakult Swallows. An agile and active infielder his career at Tigers had stalled and he was past his peak years. Unable to drive in runs he was increasingly sidelined by more versatile and productive players. A meeting with the Tigers front office indicated that they had no interest in retaining his services after 2009 so he was forced to move.
Fujimoto was Tigers No. 7 draft pick for 2001 and was chosen as a short stop. His career in his first two years was disappointing though and he didn't seem to be going anywhere. However, the then Tigers coach Hoshino felt that he had potential and persevered with him in 2003. Hoshino was a very active manager and he wasn't above hitting his players and Fujimoto was one of the targets. Despite this or because of this Fujimoto proved to be an excellent short stop showing great skills and incredible agility (which brought him his nickname of Monkey). He also drove in 36 RBIs, stole 9 bases and had an OBP of .343. This would be the start of his purple period.
In 2004, 2005 and 2006 Fujimoto was regularly driving in RBIs and made a successful switch to second where he once again demonstrated very nice skills. His replica keyring emphasised this and he was very popular with fans partially because he was a small guy who was doing well. Fujimoto was never a home run batter and his best year for these came in 2006 when he hit three. I was priviledged to see one of these at Tokyo Dome when Tigers put 11 runs on the board. This was unusual as it was hit to left centre - almost straight in fact - into the the Giants Oendan. During Okada's reign there was also the bizarre incident where Fujimoto's glove was stolen (November 2006). A fan called at his home pretending to be an employee of a sports goods manufacturing firm and to have instructions to repair the glove. He tricked Fujimoto's wife into giving him a glove and then disappeared. However, the police were able to locate and catch the fan and return the glove. Fujimoto's real deterioration started in 2007. He played in 113 games but his production was down. In Okada's last year Fujimoto only played in 57 games as Hirano was preferred at second. The advent of Mayumi gave Fujimoto another chance but he could not maintain his place on the team. Arai had been moved over to third which released Sekimoto for second more often. Sekimoto was a better hitter by now then Fujimoto at his peak. Mayumi also had the versatile and competative Hirano who was better and the young Yamato to chose from. With such competition Fujimoto couldn't maintain his place and was dropped to the second team in July. He was brought back up a couple of times mainly as a pinch hitter, pinch runner but was always dropped back down very shortly afterwards. Sadly he had reached his limits and been unable to continue his performance levels. Those of us with the Tigers 2003 and 2005 boxed sets can enjoy him at his peak - when he was hitting and fielding well.
Edited to include the story of the stolen glove

"Fujimoto was Tigers No. 7 draft pick for 2001"

Thank you for the report. I'm intrigued. Who were the 6 players Hanshin drafted before him?

Fujimoto should also be credited for his contribution to the Japanese 2004 Olympic bronze medal winning team. He played every game, every inning at second base.

One might also suggest that his position with Hanshin was screwed with the signing of Toritani. Nothing against Toritani (obviously) but here is another case of Hanshin not fully developing its young players.

Fujimoto was wildly popular at Koshien and I know many tora-kichi who will miss him. I hope he gets the playing time he deserves. Best of luck, Monkey!

Thanks for the note about Fujimoto's Olympic bronze medal.

Draft picks for 2001
No. 1 Taiyoh Fujita (to Seibu 2009)
No. 2 Masashi Date (to Nippon Ham 2002)
No. 3 Keisuke Kanoh
No. 4 Norihiro Akahoshi
No. 5 Takayuki Katoh (let go 2004)
No. 6 Yoshinori Okihara (to Rakuten 2005)
No. 7 Atsushi Fujimoto (to Yakult 2009)
No. 8 Koji Kajiwara (let go 2004)

Thank you. It's always interesting to do a bit of a "where are they now" on a particular year of a draft.