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.
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.