Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ono! Here we go! (aka NPB Draft non-live-exactly-blogging, with photos!)

Today is the big draft -- none of this splitting into high school and others anymore, it's all done in one big day again.

But get this, I went to Jingu this afternoon to watch the Tohto league final week, with Asia University playing Toyo University -- they are the two best teams this year, many great players have come out of both colleges.

So I had been taking photos all day of Toyo starter Hiroki Ueno anyway, and he threw a complete game win as Toyo won the game 2-1. I was also taking plenty of Toyo catcher Shota Ono... and as the game went into the 8th inning, I got email on my cellphone saying "Fighters take Ono, first round!" and I'm just like "Whoa! He's RIGHT THERE!!"


Toyodai catcher Shota Ono, first-round draft pick by the Fighters! YEAH!


Toyodai starter Hiroki Ueno, third-round draft pick by Chiba Lotte!


More photos after the draft table. I'm getting the live draft from sportsnavi and information from Shukan Baseball and such.


Name Pos HS/Univ/Company B/T DOB Ht/Wt
-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- --------
Central League

Giants
1 Taishi Ota IF Tokaidai Sagami HS R/R 06/09/1990 188/90
2 Takefumi Miyamoto P Kurashiki HS L/L 08/11/1990 185/72
3 Keisuke Saitoh P Chiba Keizaidai Fuzoku HS R/R 09/24/1990 185/84
4 Itaru Hashimoto IF Sendai Ikuei HS L/R 04/28/1990 172/70
5 Shoki Kasahara P Fukuoka Shogyo Kito HS R/R 01/09/1991 190/85
6 Hiroki Nakazawa IF Kokusai Budo Univ R/R 01/22/1987 182/79

IS Akinori Sugiyama P Kyoto Ayabe HS
IS Ryuichi Bitoh P Gifu Johoku HS
IS Kazunao Yamamoto IF Osaka Economics Univ
IS Atsushi Fukumoto IF NOMO Baseball Club

Tigers
1 Ikketsu Sho P Nara Sangyo Univ R/R 01/02/1986 181/86
x Hiromichi Fujiwara
x Keijiro Matsumoto

2 Kohei Shibata OF Kokusai Budo Univ L/L 07/17/1986 175/72
3 Hiroki Uemoto IF Waseda Univ R/R 07/04/1986 173/70
4 Ken Nishimura P Kyushu Sangyo Univ R/R 12/04/1986 182/80

(Sho's real name in Chinese is Yi-Jie Hsiao)

IS Takuya Nohara OF BCL Toyama Thunderbirds
IS Koji Yoshioka P Tokiwa Univ
IS Kosei Fujii IF Kakokita HS

Dragons
1 Kei Nomoto OF Nippon Express L/L 07/07/1984 180/76
2 Junki Itoh P Gifu Johoku HS L/R 01/07/1991 186/73
3 Kyohei Iwasaki IF Tokai Univ L/R 04/04/1986 178/73
4 Shohei Takashima P Teikyo HS R/R 08/04/1990 175/81
5 Shinji Iwata P Meiji Univ L/R 01/27/1987 181/80
6 Ryosuke Oguma P Ohmi HS R/R 08/11/1990 180/80
7 Shingo Itoh OF Chukyodai Chukyo HS L/R 05/27/1990 184/82

IS Satoshi Katoh OF Osaka Sangyo Univ
IS Takaya Kobayashi OF Tokyo Yayoi Club

Carp
1 Takahiro Iwamoto OF Asia Univ L/L 04/18/1986 182/82
2 Ren Nakata P Koryo HS R/R 07/21/1990 188/80
3 Takeshi Komatsu P Hosei Univ R/R 09/26/1986 179/75
4 Son-Hyon Shin IF Kyoto Kokusai HS R/R 10/19/1990 183/80

IS Shota Matsuda P Kanazawa Gakuin Higashi HS

Swallows
1 Katsuki Akagawa P Miyazaki Shogyo HS L/L 07/31/1990 184/87
2 Ryosuke Yagi P Kyoei HS L/L 09/29/1990 179/71
3 Yuhei Nakamura C Fukui Shogyo HS R/R 06/17/1990 178/70
4 Ryo Hidaka P Nippon Bunridai HS L/L 07/19/1990 181/73
5 Genki Nitta C Panasonic R/R 08/22/1982 172/80

IS Miranda Fernandez P Hakuoh Univ (real name: Rafael Fernandez)
IS Koji Tsukamoto P SIL Kagawa Olive Guyners

Baystars
1 Keijiro Matsumoto OF Waseda Univ L/L 06/24/1986 180/78
2 Hitoshi Fujie P Toho Gas R/R 01/27/1986 177/68
3 Noriharu Yamazaki IF Yokohama Shogyo Univ R/R 12/13/1986 177/76
4 Takeshi Hosoyamada C Waseda Univ R/R 04/29/1986 178/75
5 Yota Kosugi P JR Higashinihon R/R 12/08/1985 185/78

Pacific League

Lions
1 Yuta Nakazaki P Nichinan Gakuen HS L/L 03/11/1991 179/79
2 Ryoma Nogami P Nissan R/R 06/15/1987 177/68
3 Hideto Asamura IF Osaka Toin HS R/R 11/12/1990 181/78
4 Ryo Sakata OF Hakodate Univ L/R 10/02/1986 178/86
5 Tatsuya Takeno C Fukuoka Univ R/R 05/14/1986 180/82
6 Kazuki Miyata P Koga Kenko Iryo SG L/L 11/16/1988 182/75

Buffaloes
1 Takuya Kai P Tokaidai 3 HS R/R 12/18/1990 181/78
2 Masaki Ihara P Kansai Kokusai Univ L/L 11/04/1986 185/75
3 Yuki Nishi P Komono HS R/R 11/10/1990 180/80
4 Tsuyoshi Takashima IF Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/R 05/29/1986 176/78
5 Masato Nishikawa P SIL Ehime Pirates R/R 06/17/1982 184/90

Fighters
1 Shota Ohno C Toyo Univ R/R 01/13/1987 177/77
2 Ryo Sakakibara P Kansai Kokusai Univ R/R 08/04/1985 175/68
3 Toshiyuki Yanuki P Mitsubishi Fuso Kawasaki R/R 12/15/1983 190/85
4 Kenji Tsuchiya P Yokohama HS L/L 10/04/1990 179/73
5 Takuya Nakashima IF Fukuoka Kogyo HS L/R 01/11/1991 175/67
6 Kenshi Sugiya IF Teikyo HS S/R 02/04/1991 173/75
7 Keisuke Tanimoto P VitalNet R/R 01/28/1985 166/65

Marines
1 Yuta Kimura P Tokyo Gas L/L 05/21/1985 190/86
2 Hisayoshi Chono OF Honda R/R 12/06/1984 178/80
3 Hiroki Ueno P Toyo Univ R/R 10/13/1986 181/78
4 Toshiki Tsuboi P Tsukuba Univ L/L 07/07/1986 184/68
5 Tetsuya Yamamoto P Kobe Kokusai HS R/R 06/06/1990 180/80
6 Ryoji Katsuki P Kumamoto Golden Larks R/R 01/22/1984 180/79

IS Yukihiro Kimoto P Hidaka Nakatsu HS L/R 07/31/1990 181/66
IS Akira Suzue P BCL Shinano Grandserows R/R 12/25/1986 180/93
IS Kota Sumi IF Tokaidai Sagami HS L/R 01/13/1991 168/74
IS Yuto Ikuyama IF SIL Kagawa Olive Guyners L/R 05/10/1985 183/78
IS Yuji Nishino P Shin Minato HS R/R 03/06/1991 180/72
IS Yoshifumi Okada OF All Ashikaga Club L/L 07/06/1984 170/70
IS Masashi Yoshida IF Ota Kogyo HS S/R 04/08/1990 180/77
IS Takahiro Tanaka P Yokaichi Minami HS R/R 09/07/1990 183/83

Eagles
1 Hiromichi Fujiwara P NTT Nishinihon L/L 01/15/1985 177/77
x Kei Nomoto
2 Taishi Nakagawa IF Sakuragaoka HS R/R 06/08/1990 185/89
3 Ryohei Isaka P Sumitomo Metals Kashima R/R 10/19/1984 186/75
4 Yusuke Inoue P Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/R 09/05/1986 181/83
5 Yusuke Kusuki OF Panasonic R/R 01/27/1984 177/80
6 Wataru Karashima P Iizuka HS L/L 10/18/1990 174/72

IS Jobu Morita IF SIL Kagawa Olive Guyners

Hawks
1 Shingo Tatsumi P Kinki Univ L/R 01/10/1987 182/67
x Taishi Ota
2 Soichiro Tateoka OF Chinsei HS R/R 05/18/1990 181/78
3 Reo Chikada P Hotoku Gakuen HS L/L 04/30/1990 177/82
4 Sho Arima P Nichinan Gakuen HS L/L 06/05/1990 174/75
5 Tadashi Settsu P JR Higashinihon Tohoku R/R 06/01/1982 182/83
6 Mu-yon Kim P SIL Fukuoka Red Warblers R/R 11/22/1985 180/78
7 Shunya Suzuki P Yamagata Chuo HS R/R 01/08/1991 182/75

IS Koji Uchida P Osaka Sangyo Univ R/R
IS Akira Niho P Kyushu Kokusai Univ R/R
IS Yohei Yanagawa P Fukui Miracle Elephants R/R
IS Kentaro Inomoto C Chinzei HS R/R
IS Hayato Doue C SIL Kagawa Olive Guyners R/R


(I know the team is really "Ehime Mandarin Pirates" but condensed it for the chart.)

(some extra info from Patrick)

Okay, now I have the main guys entered entirely, all of the Ikusei (instructional, taxi squad, whatever you wanna call them) guys entered at least in name, position, and where they came from, but I only have the vitals for the ones where it was easy (like Chiba Lotte making a page about their draft picks -- thanks guys!)

I got a lot of this information from Nikkan Sports and Sankei Sports but the main list with the ikusei draft is best on Sportsnavi, linked above.

Thoughts so far: WOW, Iwata went low. So did Hosoyamada, and I am surprised that teams like Chunichi and Hanshin weren't going more for catchers. And Hisayoshi Chono can BITE ME, I swear if I see him next year on Lotte it's gonna be really hard for me to actually cheer for him. I kind of hoped the Giants would get him so I could hate him there, but instead they did the right thing and took that gigantic HS kid Taishi Ota who's gonna pound a billion home runs or whatever. Oh yeah, it sucks that Ota went to the Giants, anyway.

Oh yeah, and the Fighters got Tsuchiya! From Yokohama HS! I don't remember him being anything special but DAMN does he have a rubber left arm, so that's always good.

There's a lot of guys out of the Shikoku Island league drafted, though mostly in the ikusei part. Still, that is either good or bad news for the league, depending on how you look at it.

Also there were several names that were very obviously Chinese or Korean to me but I wasn't sure. And a Fernandez guy in the ikusei draft that I'm guessing is maybe part Japanese, but don't really know.

Anyway, more pictures from today:



Shota Ono with his mask on.


Ono at bat.


Ono hits a double to lead off the 5th inning!!


Takahiro Iwamoto, from Asia-dai, taken in the first round by Hiroshima.


Iwamoto slides into home plate to score Asia's only run of today's game. Note Toyo catcher Ono is waiting for the ball.


And another one of Hiroki Ueno for the heck of it. He was in a really good mood today, for obvious reasons.

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