Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Draft 2014 Liveblogging

I realize I haven't actually updated this blog in a year, but don't think I haven't been doing my normal rounds of Japanese baseball (I had my 2-week trips to Japan in April and September/October to get my fix of cheering sections and college baseball and other amateur baseball, and I did crazy things like meeting Shunsuke Watanabe in Lancaster).  I do often update Twitter when I'm doing baseball stuff although not always in English. If I have time tonight I'll put up a photo post with a few guys going into the draft, but it's unclear if I will.  I don't really have a lot of time to write anymore; working at Google for the past year has really kind of taken a lot of my brainpower.

But the draft is always important to me and I'm not about to stop this tradition (this will be my 9th year in a row translating the draft), even if I end up not being able to stay awake the entire night.

Since I'm not in Japan this year either I have absolutely no idea if I'll be able to watch the live broadcast, but I'll be watching info come across sources such as Nikkan SportsSponichiSanspo, etc.  I bought some draft magazines when I was over there (only 2 weeks ago) and should be fairly well-equipped to deal with it.

Well, aside from being annoyed if the Fighters seriously go for Arihara instead of Sachiya Yamasaki.

Moving the chart up to the front... rant and liveblog below, for those who just want to see the results. I believe I'm 100% done tracking down info now (as of 12pm on the 23rd in the US)

By the way, I do want to call out a few interesting players since they may get lost in the shuffle otherwise:
  • Yuma Mune, Orix round 2 - his father is from Ghana. They call him "The Munerin of Yokohama" apparently, though, he is supposedly very funny and has a similar play style.
  • Luciano Fernando, Eagles round 4 - his grandmother is Japanese and other than that he's from a Japanese-descended Brazilian family, came to Japan when he was 5. Played HS baseball at Kiryu Daiichi and supposedly has a crazy strong arm.
  • Takuya Kawai, Giants Ikusei #2 - actually graduated from Obirin in 2012, but stayed there coaching the college team, and decided to somehow enter the draft this year.
  • Shinnosuke Takahashi, Giants Ikusei #4 - much as another Shinnosuke entering the Giants disgusts me, this guy is kinda interesting, after high school he joined an agency that is geared towards trying to get Japanese players into the Majors or at least into American baseball clubs, so he played ball for the SUNY Herkimer Generals the last few years (page here)
  • Yusuke Tamamura, Lions #4. I still don't know what his story is. He was a superstar pitcher at Tsuruga Kehi, the Fukui Prefecture powerhouse HS team, and pages show he intended to go to Asia University, but apparently did not, as I can't find him listed in any of my college magazines. I find this more curious because it is definitely not the first case of me finding a high school star player who decided NOT to put up with the ridiculous military-like way the players train at Asia (the one before this was Kenichi Suganuma, from my favorite Sanko team -- he was at Asia for about a semester before he said "screw this" and took a semester off and enrolled at Nittaidai the next year).


Name                   Pos  HS/Univ/Company         T/B   DOB          Ht/Wt  
--------------------   ---  ---------------         ---   ----------   -------
Softbank Hawks
1 Yuki Matsumoto        P   Morioka Univ HS         R/L   04/14/1996   183/80
2 Ryoya Kurihara        C   Harue Tech HS           R/L   07/04/1996   178/73
3 Shogo Furuzawa        IF  Kyushu Kokusai Univ HS  R/R   09/05/1996   178/80
4 Shunsuke Kasaya       P   Oita Shogyo HS          L/L   03/17/1997   172/62
5 Yosuke Shimabukuro    P   Chuo Univ               L/L   10/24/1992   173/71

Yomiuri Giants
1 Kazuma Okamoto        IF  Chiben Gakuen HS        R/R   06/30/1996   183/95
2 Chiaki Tone           P   Nihon Univ              L/L   10/17/1992   175/90
3 Hayato Takagi         P   Mitsubishi Eng Nagoya   R/R   07/13/1989   178/80
4 Daiki Tanaka          P   Kokugakuin Univ         L/L   08/07/1992   182/76

I1 Shinpei Shinohara    P   Kagawa Olive Guyners    R/L   06/13/1990   186/95
I2 Takuya Kawai         IF  Oberlin Univ*           R/S   11/25/1990   174/71
I3 Takaya Tanaka        C   Yamanashi Gakuin Univ   R/L   08/27/1992   178/80
I4 Shinnosuke Takahashi P   Kisarazu Sogo HS*       R/L   07/25/1994   187/85

* Kawai graduated from Obirin/Oberlin in 2012 but stayed there as a coach for the college team.
* Takahashi had actually been playing in the US for the SUNY Herkimer Generals (player page)

Orix Buffaloes
1 Sachiya Yamasaki      P   Meiji Univ              L/L   09/09/1992   186/88
2 Yuma Mune             IF  Yokohama Hayato HS      R/L   06/07/1996   181/75
3 Kodai Sano            P   Oita HS                 R/R   09/02/1996   182/70
4 Ban Takagi            P   NTT Higashinihon        R/R   06/01/1990   181/80
5 Koki Saitoh           P   Hokusho HS              L/L   12/18/1996   180/77
6 Seiichi Sakayori      P   JR Higashinihon         L/L   04/05/1990   180/70
7 Masahiro Nishino      IF  JR Higashinihon         R/L   08/02/1990   166/66
8 Yuya Oda              OF  Nihon Seimei            R/L   11/04/1989   172/75
9 Yu Suzuki             P   Yukigaya HS             R/R   02/05/1997   180/75

Hanshin Tigers
1 Kohei Arihara
1 Yasuaki Yamasaki
1 Yuya Yokoyama         P   Shin Nittetsu Kashima   L/L   02/21/1994   182/82
2 Tsuyoshi Ishizaki     P   Shin Nittetsu Kashima   R/R   09/09/1990   182/85
3 Taiga Egoshi          OF  Komazawa Univ           R/R   03/12/1993   182/85
4 Koki Moriya           P   Honda Suzuka            R/R   11/25/1993   183/78
5 Kai Ueda              IF  Ohmi HS                 R/R   04/19/1996   175/72

Nippon Ham Fighters
1 Kohei Arihara         P   Waseda Univ             R/R   08/11/1992   187/90
2 Yushi Shimizu         C   Kyushu Kokusai Univ HS  R/R   05/22/1996   184/86
3 Daiki Asama           OF  Yokohama HS             R/L   06/21/1996   182/74
4 Naoya Ishikawa        P   Yamagata Chuo HS        R/R   07/11/1996   191/78
5 Hayao Segawa          P   Muroran Sharks          L/L   10/21/1986   177/77
6 Shota Tatsuta         P   Yamato Koryo HS         R/R   06/04/1996   181/82
7 Yuto Takahama         IF  Yokohama HS             R/R   08/08/1996   182/82
8 Kengo Ota             IF  Kawagoe Kogyo HS        R/L   01/19/1997   186/78
9 Masataka Satoh        IF  Aichi Keisei HS         R/R   04/16/1996   169/75

Hiroshima Carp
1 Kohei Arihara
1 Takayoshi Nohma       IF  Chubu Gakuin Univ       R/L   01/28/1993   180/80
2 Kazuki Yabuta         P   Asia Univ               R/R   08/07/1992   188/82
3 Atsuya Horie          P   Takamatsu Kita HS       L/L   02/21/1997   177/72
4 Koya Fujii            P   Okayama Sanyo HS        R/L   07/29/1996   181/81
5 Tatsuki Kuwahara      IF  Tokuha Kikukawa HS      R/L   07/04/1996   182/73
6 Tetsuya Iida          P   JR Higashinihon         L/L   03/28/1991   182/80
7 Daisuke Tada          C   Naruto Uzushio HS       R/R   05/25/1996   189/81

I1 Kodai Matsuura       C   MSH Medical Vocational  R/R   04/06/1993   175/75
I2 Satoshi Kimura       IF  Tokoha Tachibana HS     R/R   05/06/1996   180/75

Chiba Lotte Marines
1 Shogo Nakamura        IF  Waseda Univ             R/R   05/28/1992   180/75
2 Eisuke Tanaka         P   Kyoto Univ              R/R   04/02/1992   180/75
3 Daiki Iwashita        P   Seiryo HS               R/R   10/02/1996   181/83
4 Kandai Terashima      C   Soka Univ               R/R   10/12/1992   183/82
5 Kazuya Katsuki        IF  Osaka Toin HS           R/L   04/16/1996   176/83
6 Atsushi Miyazaki      P   Hiroshima Kokusai Univ  L/L   12/08/1992   171/72
7 Naoto Wakimoto        OF  Kendai Takasaki HS      R/L   06/10/1996   180/80

Chunichi Dragons
1 Ryosuke Nomura        P   Mitsubishi Pwr Yokohama R/R   07/09/1993   187/80 
2 Tomohiro Hamada       P   Kyushu Sangyo Univ      L/L   10/01/1992   183/75
3 Shota Tomonaga        OF  Nippon Express          R/L   04/01/1991   170/76
4 Shun Ishikawa         IF  JX-ENEOS                R/R   05/26/1990   178/81
5 Takuma Katoh          C   Aoyama Gakuin Univ      R/R   04/29/1992   174/71
6 Masataka Iryo         OF  JX-ENEOS                R/L   11/04/1989   175/86
7 Issei Endoh           IF  Tokyo Gas               R/L   03/23/1989   180/78
8 Masashi Yamamoto      P   Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/L   11/03/1994   173/78
9 Takeshi Kaneko        P   Osaka Shogyo Univ       R/R   02/25/1993   183/90

I1 Yuichi Satoh         P   Tokaidai Sagami HS      R/R   09/30/1996   192/95
I2 Kodai Ishigaki       P   Inabe Sogo HS           R/R   08/08/1996   180/76
I3 Masaru Fujiyoshi     C   Shugakukan HS           R/L   08/07/1996   180/74
I4 Hiroki Kondoh        OF  Meijo Univ              R/R   02/12/1993   179/78

Seibu Lions
1 Kona Takahashi        P   Maebashi Ikuei HS       R/R   02/03/1997   188/88
2 Yasuo Sano            P   Heisei Kokusai Univ     L/L   01/18/1993   176/78
3 Shuta Tonosaki        IF  Fuji Univ               R/R   03/14/1993   177/79
4 Yusuke Tamamura       P   Tsuruga Kehi HS*        R/R   11/04/1995   181/79     
5 Haruka Yamada         IF  Saga Kogyo HS           R/R   09/30/1996   177/73

I1 Daisuke Togawa       OF  Hokkai HS               R/L   04/29/1996   188/86

* Tamamura graduated from Tsuruga Kehi LAST year.  Supposedly he was going to attend
  Asia University, as I saw him listed there a bunch, but must have dropped out.

DeNA Baystars
1 Kohei Arihara
1 Yasuaki Yamasaki      P   Asia Univ               R/R   10/02/1992   177/84
2 Kenta Ishida          P   Hosei Univ              L/L   03/01/1993   180/83
3 Toshihiko Kuramoto    IF  Nihon Shinyaku          R/L   01/07/1991   180/82
4 Motoharu Fukuchi      P   Mitsubishi Pwr Yokohama L/L   06/21/1990   182/88
5 Koki Yamashita        IF  Kokugakuin Univ         R/L   01/31/1993   173/70
6 Hiroki Momose         IF  Matsumoto Daiichi HS    R/L   03/11/1997   176/69
7 Satoshi Iizuka        P   Nihon Bunri HS          R/L   10/11/1996   185/76

I1 Toui Kamei           C   Nissei HS               R/R   02/09/1997   180/75

Rakuten Eagles
1 Tomohiro Anraku       P   Saibi HS                R/L   11/04/1996   187/88
2 Fumiya Ono            P   Nishinihon Tankidai HS  R/R   10/23/1996   176/71
3 Masayoshi Fukuda      OF  Chuo Univ               R/R   04/17/1992   174/76
4 Luciano Fernando      OF  Hakuoh Univ             R/R   04/13/1992   175/79
5 Takahiro Irino        P   Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/L   11/26/1988   180/84
6 Masashi Katoh         P   JR Higashinihon Tohoku  R/R   09/07/1989   173/71
7 Ryota Itoh            OF  Nihon Seishi Ishinomaki L/L   07/27/1989   194/92

I1 Takumaru Yaoita      OF  Seikou Gakuin HS        R/L   01/17/1997   180/76
I2 Hiroki Osakaya       IF  Aomori Chuo Gakuin Univ R/R   11/09/1992   179/83

Yakult Swallows
1 Tomohiro Anraku
1 Shingo Takeshita      P   Yamaha                  L/L   10/20/1990   180/84
2 Ren Kazahari          P   Nodai Hokkaido Okhotsk  R/R   02/26/1993   181/82
3 Koji Yamakawa         C   Fukuoka Kodai Joto HS   R/R   11/15/1996   184/86
4 Tetsuya Terada        P   Kagawa Olive Guyners    R/R   04/02/1987   185/92
5 Yusaku Nakamoto       P   Hakuwa Victorys         L/L   12/12/1988   178/76
6 Hiroaki Dohi          P   Honda Suzuka            R/R   11/16/1990   181/85
7 Izumi Hara            OF  Daichi Kogyo Univ       R/R   07/26/1992   190/96

I1 Shogo Nakashima      P   Fukuoka Univ            R/R   06/15/1992   178/72


First round starting now!  OMG!
Swallows - Tomohiro Anraku (P, Saibi HS)
Eagles - Anraku
Baystars - Kohei Arihara (P, Waseda Univ)
Lions - Kona Takahashi (P, Maebashi Ikuei HS)
Dragons - Ryosuke Nomura  (P, Mitsubishi Power Yokohama)
Marines - Shogo Nakamura (IF, Waseda Univ)
Carp - Arihara
Fighters - Arihara
Tigers - Arihara
Buffaloes - Sachiya Yamasaki (P, Meiji Univ)
Giants - Kazuma Okamoto (IF, Chiben Wakayama HS)
Hawks - Yuki Matsumoto (P, Morioka Univ HS)

Looks like Anraku is going to the Eagles -- heh, anRAKU, RAKUten, it makes sense.
Arihara is apparently going to... the Fighters.  ARRRRGGGGHHH.  I guess I'll get used to it just like I did when they took Yuki Saitoh a few years back, and I actually believe Arihara is a better pitcher, but I'm just not a Waseda fan, you all know that.

Okay so the second "first" round BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS ALL TOOK ARIHARA:
Yakult: Shingo Takeshita (P, Yamaha)
Baystars: Yasuaki Yamasaki (P, Asia Univ)
Carp: Takayoshi Nohma (IF, Chubu Gakuin Univ)
Hanshin: Yamasaki

And Yamasaki, who lived down the street from the JHS I taught at but went to the next one over because mine had no baseball team, is going to be a Yokohama Baystar.

Hanshin will now pick... Yuya Yokoyama (P, Shin Nittetsu Sumikin Kashima), thus ending the first round.  I suppose that was less painful than some past years.

So the ACTUAL FIRST ROUND RESULTS:
Swallows - Shingo Takeshita (P, Yamaha)
Eagles - Tomohiro Anraku (P, Saibi HS)
Baystars - Yasuaki Yamasaki (P, Asia Univ)
Lions - Kona Takahashi (P, Maebashi Ikuei HS)
Dragons - Ryosuke Nomura  (P, Mitsubishi Power Yokohama)
Marines - Shogo Nakamura (IF, Waseda Univ)
Carp - Takayoshi Nohma (IF, Chubu Gakuin Univ)
Fighters - Kohei Arihara (P, Waseda Univ)
Tigers - Yuya Yokoyama (P, Shin Nittetsu Sumikin Kashima)
Buffaloes - Sachiya Yamasaki (P, Meiji Univ)
Giants - Kazuma Okamoto (IF, Chiben Gakuen HS)
Hawks - Yuki Matsumoto (P, Morioka Univ HS)

Turning off the TV and concentrating on the website updates until I fall asleep from here on in.  I'll add notes as I get excited or angry about picks (especially wondering whether some of my former favorite college guys who are now in the industrial leagues will get drafted)

So here we go into round 2, and I'm reminiscing about how annoyed I was at Yasuaki Yamasaki in the 2010 East Tokyo HS tourney because I planned my schedule to see Teikyo HS at Jingu and then he choked in front of scouts, they lost, instead I got to see Shutoku and Taiki Mitsumata so I guess it all worked out okay, but anyway,

THE BAYSTARS JUST TOOK KENTA ISHIDA WITH THEIR 2ND ROUND PICK BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS TAKE A HOSEI PITCHER WITH THE 2ND ROUND PICK AND OMG THAT'S NUTS because now they have Kagami, Mishima, Mikami, and Ishida.  I guess Mikami technically came out of ENEOS and was a 4th rounder but the other three were all 2nd round out of Hosei to Baystars and wow.

And hey, Eisuke Tanaka got picked by Lotte in the 2nd round too!  That's great!  He will be the first pro player ever out of Kyoto University -- there was a super interesting article about him in the draft magazine including the details of his engineering thesis and how he went to a high school that "only practiced baseball for 90 minutes a day, thus meaning they would never go to Koshien" and so on, and how he came to Kyoto Univ and stopped their 60-game losing streak (we could use someone like that at Todai dammit) and so on.  Yay!

Something that only comes up when you are entering data: Rakuten draft pick #2, Fumiya Ono, his birthday is today (Oct 23).

Hmm, so some notes, I'm glad to see the non-Japanese guys like Luciano Fernando (Brazilian) and Yuma Mune (half-Ghana) getting drafted, that's a step in the right direction.

Also okay so Shimabukuro DID get drafted. I was worried because he had a pretty crap year and Chuo has kinda sucked lately.