Kyuji Fujikawa

On November 14, 2015, Fujikawa agreed to a two-year, 300-million-yen deal to return to the Hanshin Tigers.

On December 12, 2014, Fujikawa agreed to a one-year deal with the Texas Rangers. He was released on May 22, 2015.

On December 2, 2012, Fujikawa agreed to terms on a two-year contract with a vesting option for a third year with the Chicago Cubs. He struggled early on in the season, allowing six earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched. This led to him spending time on the disabled list due to an arm injury. He returned to the Cubs roster on May 10, but on May 27, Fujikawa suffered an elbow injury in the 9th inning in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. An MRI revealed that there was a ruptured UCL in his right elbow, knocking Fujikawa out for the season. He underwent Tommy John surgery on June 11, and missed the start of the 2014 season.

Fujikawa was named to the national team to play in the World Baseball Classic in 2009, his second time playing in the tournament. However, though he did not allow a run in his four appearances in the first or second rounds, Fujikawa allowed an inordinate number of baserunners and struggled with his fastball velocity. Manager Tatsunori Hara opted to appoint Yu Darvish the closer for the semi-finals and finals instead of Fujikawa, declining to use Fujikawa at all in Japan's last two games of the tournament.

Fujikawa continued to dominate hitters in 2008, setting a franchise record for consecutive save conversions (11) to begin the season and racking up 30 by the All-Star break. He was chosen to the Japanese national team to play in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and named one of the team's three closers (along with Iwase and then-Giants right-hander Koji Uehara). However, Fujikawa gave up the tying run after coming on in the seventh inning of the semi-finals against South Korea, failing to lead the team to a medal.

On March 23, 2008, following an exhibition game between the Tigers and the Oakland Athletics held at Tokyo Dome in which he struck out swinging against Fujikawa, then Oakland Athletics outfielder Jeff Fiorentino commented that Fujikawa's fastball was similar in nature to the fastball of (then-teammate) Rich Harden.

Fujikawa was officially appointed the team's closer for the start of the 2007 season. He was consistent throughout the season, making his third consecutive All-Star appearance (striking out two and closing the game for the Central League team in Game 1) and recorded his 100th strikeout of the season on September 7 in a game against the Giants, the first time a pitcher had ever recorded 100 strikeouts as a reliever in three consecutive seasons in Japan. During the Tigers' 10-game win streak in the second half of the season, he pitched in all 10 games, setting a Central League record for most consecutive games pitched and earning two wins and seven saves (with a 1.80 ERA) in that span. Fujikawa recorded his 46th save in the Tigers' last game of the season on October 3, tying the NPB record for saves in a single season and leading the league (along with Dragons closer Hitoki Iwase, who also recorded 46 that year) in that category for the first time. He put up a 5-5 record in 71 appearances with a 1.63 ERA, striking out 115 in 83​⁄3 innings.

Fujikawa pitched in the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classics as well as the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A prototypical power pitcher, Fujikawa is said to have one of the most explosive fastballs in all of Japanese professional baseball and is one of Japan's premier relievers.

In 2006, Fujikawa was named to the Japanese national team to play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic. He began the regular season as the Tigers' eighth-inning setup man, but was promoted to closer when Kubota missed playing time due to injury in June. He set a new NPB record for consecutive games pitched without allowing a run on July 5 against the BayStars with 35 (Kiyoshi Toyoda held the previous record) and set a franchise record for most consecutive scoreless innings pitched on July 11 (320-win pitcher Masaaki Koyama held the previous record of 47). His streaks stopped at 38 and 47​⁄3 , respectively, when he gave up a run in a game against the Carp on July 12.

On November 23, 2006, major Japanese television network TV Asahi aired a short documentary on Fujikawa's fastball as part of a series on professional baseball on its popular news program "Hōdō Station" (報道ステーション). Through the use of specialized high speed cameras, it found that while the average four-seam fastball spins 37 times per second during its trajectory to the plate, Fujikawa's fastball spun 45 times per second (2700 rpm), more than either Daisuke Matsuzaka's (37) or Marc Kroon's (41). Moreover, they also found that while the spin axis of the average four-seam fastball is tilted approximately 30 degrees relative to its direction (trajectory) to the plate, the spin axis of Fujikawa's was only five degrees (Matsuzaka's and Kroon's were 10).

The 2005 season was a breakout year in every sense for Fujikawa, who became a setup pitcher for the Tigers along with hard-throwing left-hander Jeff Williams. He, Williams and then-closer Tomoyuki Kubota formed one of the most formidable relief pitching trios in Japan, even earning themselves the nickname JFK ("Jeff", "Fujikawa", "Kubota"). He earned the Central League Most Valuable Player award for the month of June and received the most fan votes for Central League relief pitcher (excluding closers) for the NPB All-Star Game. He recorded his first career save on September 9 against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp.

Relegated to the nigun team ("minor league" or "farm team") with a shoulder injury, Fujikawa decided to take the advice of pitching coach Takashi Yamaguchi and rebuild his mechanics from scratch in May 2004. Fujikawa was called up the ichigun team in the second half of the season, eager to live up to pitching coach Kiyooki Nakanishi's expectations that he would be more effective as a middle reliever than as a starter, and appeared in 26 games, striking out 35 in 31 innings with a 2.61 ERA.

In addition to the fastball, Fujikawa also throws an effective forkball as well as a curveball, relying primarily on these two pitches to keep batters off-balance. (He also has a cutter and a changeup that he rarely uses in game situations.) While the overwhelming majority of Fujikawa's pitches were fastballs when he first made a name for himself as a reliever in 2004 to 2006, often going entire innings without throwing a single offspeed pitch, he has since incorporated a larger share of forkballs and curveballs to reduce fatigue and possible injury over time.

Fujikawa was called up to the ichigun (Japanese equivalent of "major league") team for the first time the following year (2000), coming on in relief in the Tigers' season opener against the BayStars on March 31 in his professional debut. He saw his first start in his fourth season, 2002, taking the mound against the BayStars on July 21 but lasting just four innings (he gave up two runs). He earned his first career win on September 11, holding the Yakult Swallows to one run over eight innings, finishing the season with a 1-5 record and a 3.71 ERA. However, while the Tigers had hoped that he would blossom as a starter and used him exclusively in that role that season, his career numbers up until 2003 were largely unspectacular.

Fujikawa's rookie season was uneventful, his perhaps most humorous moment of 1999 occurring during Spring training when he was forced to miss part of the team's workouts to attend remedial classes at his high school because his grades had been so poor. It was a unique situation made possible by the fact that the Tigers' Spring training site, Aki, happened to be close to the city of Kochi where Fujikawa's high school was located.

Fujikawa was picked in the first round of the 1998 NPB amateur draft by the Hanshin Tigers, one of only four high school pitchers to be selected in the first round (along with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Nagisa Arakaki and Katsutoshi Ishidoh, though Arakaki did not end up signing that year).

Kyuji Fujikawa (藤川 球児 , Fujikawa Kyūji, born July 21, 1980) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball. He previously pitched for the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Fujikawa was born in Kōchi, Kōchi, in 1980, a member of the so-called Matsuzaka Generation. His name "Kyuji" literally means "baseball kid" in Japanese, and is often used as part of the phrase "Kōkō-kyuji" (高校球児) to refer to a high school baseball player. It was reportedly given to him by his father because he had thrown a no-hitter in a sandlot baseball game the day before Fujikawa was born. He began playing baseball for the Little League team "Kodakasa White Wolf", first as a shortstop, then later as a pitcher.

Fujikawa went on to Kochi Commercial High School, where he both pitched and played right field in the 79th National High School Baseball Championship in his second year (the equivalent of eleventh grade in the United States). His older brother, Junichi, was the team's starting catcher. While his team lost in the second round to Heian High School, Fujikawa clocked 144 km/h (89 mph) in the regional Kochi Tournament and had been regarded as one of the better high school prospects in the prefecture.