Fujinami agreed Wednesday with the Athletics on a one-year contract, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
According to Passan, the 28-year-old right-hander is expected to slot into the Oakland rotation while he makes the jump to MLB after spending the past 10 seasons in his native Japan with Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers. Fujinami stands at imposing 6-foot-6 and sports an upper-90s fastball that can touch the triple digits, but he didn't dominate against NPB competition to the extent his skill set might suggest. While moving between the rotation and bullpen in 2022 for Hanshin, he turned in a 3.38 ERA and struck out 23.6 percent of the batters he faced. He was able to trim his walk rate to a palatable 7.5 percent after often struggling with his control in his prior seasons with Japan, but the move to MLB could make it difficult to maintain that improvement while he faces higher-caliber hitters.