Hey everyone, welcome to my 20th year of translating the NPB draft.
STATUS: Done except Hawks ikusei player height/weight, as always.
As always this is also my "hi, what's up" post. Hi, what's up? Last year at this time I had just come back to Japan with my shiny new HSP engineering visa, and now I've been working as an engineer at an industrial robotics startup here in Tokyo for the last year. I only made it to 50 baseball games this year, although I watched a TON more on TV at home - it's crazy how when I was an English teacher and could leave work at 4:50pm every day I went to 100+ games per year, but my job is in the office M-F 9am-6pm (or more, lol) to be on-site with the robots, so leaving at 5pm to make first pitch at 6pm means I have to stay another time to make it up. Most of my games were on weekends, but also Japan is way more brutally hot now than it was back in the day, and I have to admit I probably skipped going to some games just because I didn't want to deal with the weather and I'm definitely more tired now than I was in my 20's. I finally went to my first Kamagaya game in September and several staff (and players!) saw me like "Hey! Long time no see! Where have you been?" and I sheepishly admitted "It's my first time here this year..." and they're like "It's been really hot, huh?" Also, the reserved seating everywhere has kind of killed a lot of the social groups that formed out of seat-saving necessity once upon a time.
But I did go to Okinawa for Fighters spring training back in February for a change, and that was pretty cool; I hope I can do that again next year. Another highlight of the year was finding a price loophole and staying for a weekend at the Tower 11 hotel in Es Con Field and getting to watch some minor-league ball from my room (including that I saw all 3 Hokkai Gakuen Univ draftees!). I made it to the new Giants and Tigers ni-gun stadiums, and also was at the Toshitaiko finals for a change and even sitting over the Oji championship team's ouendan.
As in recent years, I expect to mostly just translate as it comes in over the usual news sources. I bought a draft magazine but mostly for the lulz. Nikkan Sports is my usual go-to, and I use draft-repo for high-school kids and the individual websites for colleges/companies for the others, when more obscure people get drafted and the major news outlets don't have their stats ready.
I made most of my commentary about various players on Twitter as I was going, though I have a few notes in here as well. I'm not bothering to recap the lottery except to say the Fighters were the unluckiest team this year.
Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt -------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- ------- Swallows 1 Ayuto Matsushita IF Hosei Univ R/R 04/14/2003 181/85 2 Reo Matsukawa IF Josai Univ R/L 03/26/2004 183/81 3 Taiyo Yamazaki P Soka Univ R/R 07/06/2003 193/87 4 Shota Masui P Toyota L/L 05/25/2000 173/74 5 Rengo Suzuki P Tokaidai Kofu HS L/L 08/18/2007 177/70 6 Takumi Ishii IF Chuo Univ R/R 03/02/2002 180/81 7 Ryuto Iida P ENEOS R/R 06/24/1999 187/100 i1 Yume Komiya P Kawasaki Sci&Tech HS L/L 06/08/2007 180/70 Ishii is Kazunari Ishii's little brother (from the Fighters) Marines 1 Genki Ishigaki P Kendai Takasaki HS R/S 08/16/2007 180/78 2 Kaito Mohri P Meiji Univ L/L 09/14/2003 177/77 3 Raito Okumura P Yokohama HS L/L 09/08/2007 179/84 4 Yuya Sakurai IF Shohei HS R/R 06/30/2007 180/87 5 Hayato Fuji P Nippon Express R/R 03/10/2002 180/86 6 Ryoju Okamura C Tomishima HS R/R 05/03/2007 173/77 7 Yamato Tanaka P Honda Suzuka R/L 01/29/2002 178/92 i1 Yuto Nakayama P Mito Keimei HS R/L 04/18/2007 182/65 i2 Kaishu Takahashi P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 12/21/2005 178/80 i3 Ryo Sugiyama OF Aichi Gakuin Univ L/L 11/22/2003 171/65 Yuya Sakurai is of Thai descent, born in Japan, he took his grandmother's married name right before high school. His mom runs a Thai restaurant in Nasu-Shiobara :) Carpx Masahiro Tateishi IF Soka Univ R/R 11/01/2003 180/871 Ren Hirakawa OF Sendai Univ R/S 03/31/2004 187/92 2 Taichi Saitoh P Asia Univ R/R 12/07/2003 182/90 3 Naru Katsuda IF Kinki Univ R/L 06/21/2003 163/72 4 Taiki Kudoh P Hokkai Gakuen Univ R/R 09/29/2003 175/88 5 Seiya Akagi P Bukkyo Univ R/R 10/05/2003 190/86 6 Atsuma Nishikawa IF Kamimura Gakuen Iga HS R/L 12/28/2007 183/76 7 Hayato Takagi P Chukyo Univ R/R 03/19/2004 180/80 i1 Yuta Kobayashi C Josai Univ R/L 02/15/2004 177/82 i2 Daiki Kishimoto IF Tokushima Indigo Socks R/L 01/01/2002 169/71 Lions 1 Taiga Kojima C Meiji Univ R/L 10/27/2003 179/83 2 Hakua Iwaki P Chuo Univ L/L 09/17/2003 182/92 3 Shun Akiyama OF Chukyo Univ R/L 04/20/2003 183/86 4 Keita Horikoshi P Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/R 07/15/2003 184/96 5 Sohwa Yokota IF Yamamura Gakuen HS R/L 10/24/2007 180/88 6 Yushin Kawada IF Shikoku Bank R/L 02/20/2002 174/69 i1 Yuito Arai IF Hachioji Gakuen HS R/L 11/11/2007 183/77 i2 Takumu Imaoka IF Kamimura Gakuen R/R 09/05/2007 180/80 i3 Keishin Saitoh P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/L 03/16/2003 181/89 i4 Sota Hamaoka P Kawawa HS L/L 10/10/2007 176/87 i5 Hiroto Hiraguchi P Nihon Keizai Univ L/L 04/15/2003 179/82 i6 Yuma Masaki P Sophia Univ R/L 11/19/2002 179/83 i7 Ginto Andoh OF Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 02/04/2003 198/110 Dragons 1 Masaki Nakanishi P Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/R 12/18/2003 182/92 2 Yorinosuke Sakurai P Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/R 07/21/2003 175/68 3 Kunitada Shinozaki P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 06/12/2005 193/105 4 Kiramu Noto OF Meishu Hitachi HS R/L 05/15/2007 183/80 5 Mao Shinpo IF Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/L 11/29/2003 183/76 6 Asahi Hanada OF Toyo Univ R/R 04/23/2003 187/87 i1 Kenshin Masano P Oisix Niigata Albirex L/L 09/19/1999 181/91 i2 Taiga Ishikawa IF Kakekawa Nishi HS R/R 08/01/2007 187/92 i3 Aisuke Mikami OF Ehime Mandarin Pirates R/L 06/14/2004 173/73 Eagles 1 Sota Fujiwara P Hanazono Univ R/R 11/20/2003 178/73 2 Tatsuki Itoh P Waseda Univ R/R 08/24/2003 177/84 3 Akira Shigenaga IF Chuo Univ R/R 04/25/2003 175/86 4 Toshiya Ohsakae C Gakuho Ishikawa HS R/L 04/23/2007 178/85 5 Taisei Itoh P Reimei HS L/L 10/27/2007 174/76 6 Ryu Kutani P Oji R/L 11/05/1999 177/80 7 Shoya Sakaue OF Kinki Univ R/L 11/01/2003 180/90 i1 Daita Horomura OF Toyama Thunderbirds R/L 08/08/2004 177/73 i2 Shion Ohtsubo OF Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 02/02/2004 190/110 i3 Takuma Nagazawa P Hakuoh Univ R/L 08/06/2003 183/80 i4 Kyonosuke Kaneko IF Kanagawa Univ R/R 01/18/2004 186/95 i5 Taiga Shimahara C Ehime Mandarin Pirates R/L 02/22/2002 183/92 Giants (and ikusei) 1 Kazuyuki Takemaru P Saginomiya L/L 02/26/2002 179/75 2 Ren Wada P Waseda Univ R/R 05/02/2003 183/87 3 Kyohei Yamashiro P Asia Univ L/L 09/20/2003 174/70 4 Gakuto Minakawa OF Chuo Univ R/L 04/30/2003 182/88 5 Yuto Kohama IF Okinawa Electric R/R 10/05/2001 180/86 6 Kensho Fujii IF Urawa Gakuin HS R/R 08/15/2007 181/96 i1 Eijiro Tomishige P Kanagawa Future Dreams L/L 06/01/2001 178/82 i2 Kira Hayashi P Rissho Univ R/R 04/22/2003 183/85 i3 Rentaro Matsui C Toyohashi Chuo HS R/L 08/03/2007 176/79 i4 Yusaku Kohno P Aichi Gakuin Univ L/L 07/03/2003 180/90 i5 Taisei Chinen OF Oisix Niigata Albirex L/L 04/27/2000 181/86 Buffaloesx Genki Ishigaki P Kendai Takasaki HS R/S 08/16/2007 180/781 Atsuya Fujikawa P Nabeoka Gakuen HS R/R 10/23/2007 183/88 2 Haruki Mori P Osaka Toin HS R/L 08/01/2007 190/88 3 Ryuga Satoh P Kendai Takasaki HS L/L 07/13/2007 173/75 4 Yosuke Kubota OF Sapporo Nichidai HS R/R 07/31/2007 185/88 5 Shu Takaya P Hokkai Gakuen Univ R/R 07/27/2003 179/83 6 Kenny Ishikawa P University of Georgia L/L 04/07/2004 180/85 7 Shikira Nogami C Meishu Hitachi HS R/R 05/23/2007 170/83 i1 Haruto Mikata OF Tochigi Golden Braves R/R 03/31/2003 190/97 i2 Matthew Ichiro Shapiro P Toyama Thunderbirds R/R 03/18/2003 193/105 i3 Sota Nakanishi IF Nissei HS R/R 12/30/2007 180/81 i4 Issei Watanabe P Sendai Univ L/L 12/12/2003 172/71 Crazy, I saw Kenny Ishikawa play for Asia Univ a bunch but lost track of him :) Also Matthew Shapiro at Kokugakuin. (And his name breaks my table format dammit) Baystarsx Rintaro Sasaki IF Stanford Univ R/L 04/18/2005 184/1131 Koichiro Oda IF Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/L 08/15/2003 173/85 2 Shunya Shimada P Toyo Univ R/R 04/30/2003 185/95 3 Asahi Miyashita IF Toyo Univ R/R 01/26/2004 182/88 4 Hiromi Katayama P Honda L/L 10/31/1998 175/84 5 Shuto Naruse IF NTT West R/R 05/23/2001 175/75 i1 Uta Shimizu IF Kyoto Kokusai HS R/R 09/27/2007 181/75 Fightersx Masahiro Tateishi IF Soka Univ R/R 11/01/2003 180/87 x Ren Hirakawa OF Sendai Univ R/S 03/31/2004 187/921 Jay Okawa P Meiji Univ R/L 10/28/2003 180/75 2 Kane Edokpolo OF Osaka Gakuin Univ R/R 07/02/2003 190/101 3 Ruan Ohtsuka IF Tokai Univ R/L 10/26/2003 169/74 4 Minato Handa IF Nichidai Fujisawa HS R/L 05/10/2007 176/76 5 Kaito Fujimori C Keio Univ R/L 06/27/2007 182/74 i1 Hiroki Tsuneya IF Hokkai Gakuen Univ R/R 01/18/2004 180/85 i2 Towa Yokoyama P Aomori Chuo Gakuin Univ R/L 04/16/2003 178/80 I used "Jay Okawa" because he spelled his name that way on the board at Jingu. Tigers 1 Masahiro Tateishi IF Soka Univ R/R 11/01/2003 180/87 2 Shogo Tanibata IF Nihon Univ R/R 03/17/2004 178/80 3 Kaisei Okashiro OF Tsukuba Univ R/R 06/23/2003 183/83 4 Saku Hayase P Kamimura Gakuen R/L 08/30/2007 185/79 5 Shuto Noto P Oisix Niigata Albirex R/R 09/29/2001 184/88 i1 Ryosuke Jingu P Nodai Okhotsk Univ R/R 05/27/2003 178/81 i2 Shoei Yamasaki OF Hyogo Bravers R/L 12/01/2002 174/67 Hawks 1 Rintaro Sasaki IF Stanford Univ R/L 04/18/2005 184/113 2 Ryuta Inagawa P Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ R/R 02/25/2004 183/90 3 Gota Suzuki P Osaka Sangyo Univ R/R 08/31/2003 174/82 4 Masato Sagara P Gifu Kyoritsu Univ R/R 09/24/2003 184/79 5 Takanori Takahashi IF JR East R/R 12/21/2001 186/94 i1 Kanta Ikeda C Sekine Gakuen HS R/R 05/12/2007 i2 Ayumu Ezaki IF Fukui Kogyodai HS R/L 09/18/2007 i3 Ryusei Ohya P Chukyo Univ R/L 06/28/2003 i4 Reo Ohhashi IF Oisca Hamamatsu HS R/R 07/02/2007 i5 Takahiro Suzuki OF Club Rebase R/R 04/17/2001 i6 Renta Nagsaki P Shiga Gakuen HS R/R 06/11/2007 i7 Emil Plensa OF Happy Science HS R/R 11/07/2007 i8 Hokuto Ohyama P Chuo Univ R/R 03/10/2004 Note: Emil Plensa is Domingo Guzman (former Chunichi player)'s son
