NPB Draft 2026

Wow, it's that time of year again, where I dust off the blog, translate the NPB draft (for the 21st year running), and say hi. Hi! It's been a crazy year. I'm still working at a robotics startup in the southeast corner of Tokyo for the time being. I made it to 65 baseball games this year (and like 25 basketball games last season, including a trip up to Hokkaido over Golden Week to see the Fighters AND to see Keisei Tominaga sink a bazillion 3-pointers for Levanga Hokkaido, and it was easier to get good Levanga tickets in my first year of fanclub membership than to get any Fighters tickets in my 20th). Probably the most fun was sitting in the outfield ouendan for a minor-league Fighters-Swallows game at Es Con in the middle of August, the most emotional was having the Swallows season bookended by Shingo Kawabata's retirement game in March and Masanori Ishikawa's retirement game in October. I also chased the Pokemon 30th Anniversary NPB event, going to 9 out of 12 stadiums across the country for it. (Anyone in Pokemon Go want to trade me a baseball Pikachu with the background from Fukuoka or Hiroshima or Toyama? I have all of the rest of them to exchange...) Honestly I thought I should probably write up my overall review of the Pokemon event since it spanned across several months and prefectures for me, and each stadium did it differently, but I've been too lazy. Some of my reviews are on Twitter.

Anyway, one irony is that this year I have basketball tickets tonight at 7pm, which we bought a few months ago before we knew the draft date, so I'll follow the draft for the first hour from 5-6pm, then go over to Toyota Arena, watch the Tokyo Alvark take on the Ibaraki Robots, and then by the time I get home from that the draft will be over and I can just translate stuff instead of freaking out about who went where.

Preparing the table though! Teams that have had consistent URLs for draft results, I'm also filling those in.

As always I'm following Nikkan Sports, also Yahoo Sports, also draft-repo for info on players.

Hmmm first round

Rakuten: Kai Watabe, C, Aoyama Gakuin Univ
Dragons: Kai Watabe
Marines: Taisei Suzuki, P, Aoyama Gakuin Univ
Swallows: Ryosuke Fujisawa, OF, Tokyo Gas
Buffaloes: Futo Kakuta, P, Fuji Univ
Carp: Takara Yamasato, IF, Asia Univ
Fighters: Haruki Komoda, P, Yamanashi Gakuin HS
Baystars: Sena Hoshino, P, Osaka Shogyo Univ
Seibu: Keito Kawajiri, P, Asia Univ
Giants: Shoki Oda, P, Yokohama HS
Hawks: Taisei Suzuki
Hanshin: Nanato Sakakibara, OF, Meiji Univ

Not nearly as big a cluster as I was expecting... lotteries for the two Aoyama Gakuin boys basically. No competition for Komoda -- WTF?

Watabe goes to Rakuten (yay? at least I'll see him more) and Taisei Suzuki sadly goes to... the Hawks :(

Second first round, Marines and Dragons:
Oh, lol, they both named Ren Miyahara.. and he goes to Chunichi

Ok, third first round. Marines name Yuto Yonezawa. Hey, this looks unlucky but actually I was at the all-Japan collegiate championships this year where Yonezawa pitched Kansai to their first national victory there in over 50 years so he's actually pretty good.

status: I did the first two rounds and now I'm heading off to basketball (it's currently in the middle of the third round, whee).

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

Eagles
1 Kai Watabe            C   Aoyama Gakuin Univ      R/R   08/20/2004   180/88
2 Keigo Okada           IF  Meiji Univ              R/L   05/07/2004   176/79
3 Shin Higuchi          P   Oji                     L/L   06/28/2002   178/85
4 Yoshiaki Hagihara     C   Toshiba                 R/L   04/06/2001   180/87
5 Yoshihiro Taka        IF  Oisix Niigata Albirex   R/R   05/31/2004   172/78
6 Miyato Watanabe       P   Kochi Fighting Dogs     L/L   07/10/2002   176/85

i1 Goki Nemoto          OF  Toyama GRN Thunderbirds R/R   10/14/2005   182/82
i2 Yu Fujihara          OF  Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/S   06/15/2006   168/65
i3 Hangeun Kim          P   Ibaraki Astro Planets   L/L   04/07/2004   177/84
i4 Kodai Terai          IF  Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/L   12/21/2006   185/95

Before anyone asks: Kim was born in Tokyo, not Korea.

Dragons
x Kai Watabe            C   Aoyama Gakuin Univ      R/R   08/20/2004   180/88
1 Ren Miyahara          P   Kinki Univ              R/R   01/24/2005   182/88
2 Masato Shibasaki      OF  Oji                     R/L   04/04/2002   173/83
3 Ran Maejima           C   Asia Univ               R/R   11/20/2004   174/86
4 Yugo Suzuki           P   Chukyo HS               R/R   07/16/2008   177/75
5 Kairi Nishida         P   Kyoto Kokusai HS        L/L   12/12/2008   178/76
6 Tomohiro Shimizu      C   Yamaha                  R/R   05/25/2002   181/95

i1 Ryo Naitoh           P   Ueda Nishi HS           R/L   06/09/2008   180/81
i2 Keito Nakanishi      OF  Osaka Toin HS           R/S   05/20/2008   172/80

Marines
x Taisei Suzuki         P   Aoyama Gakuin Univ      R/R   05/28/2004   187/79
x Ren Miyahara          P   Kinki Univ              R/R   01/24/2005   182/88
1 Yuto Yonezawa         P   Kansai Univ             L/L   06/01/2004   180/80
2 Yuto Maeda            P   Takaoka Daiichi HS      L/L   01/23/2009   173/71
3 Shunta Nagaya         P   ENEOS                   R/R   02/13/2003   175/77
4 Yoshinobu Kuroda      OF  Higashi Nihon Intl Univ R/L   05/26/2004   180/82
5 Fuga Shinjo           P   Nara Univ HS            R/R   04/27/2008   190/85
6 Kosei Tanaka          OF  Nichinan Gakuen HS      R/L   05/10/2008   184/87

i1 Hisoka Wakatoh       IF  Takagawa Gakuen HS      R/L   01/10/2009   176/68
i2 Tohma Sasaki         P   Hanamaki Higashi HS     R/R   03/23/2009   182/80
i3 Shion Uchida         IF  Sekine Gakuen HS        R/R   06/15/2008   181/86

Swallows
1 Ryosuke Fujisawa      OF  Tokyo Gas               R/R   06/04/2002   187/90
2 Yuta Satoh            OF  Tohoku Fukushi Univ     R/R   11/22/2004   181/87
3 Seiya Fukuhara        C   Meiji Univ              R/R   07/30/2004   168/75
4 Eidai Takada          IF  Miyakonojo HS           R/L   11/24/2008   172/70
5 Shinya Kawahira       P   Ibaraki Astro Planets   R/R   11/17/2003   187/94
6 Yamato Ishizawa       P   Muroran Sharks          L/L   08/21/2001   176/80
7 Shunsuke Watanabe     IF  Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/S   03/21/2006   180/72

i1 Hyuga Nishino        UF  Ehime Mandarin Pirates  R/L   08/08/2002   168/65
i2 Masahiro Takahashi   P   Soka HS                 R/R   03/16/2008   187/92
i3 Kanta Ozaki          P   Sega Sammy              L/L   04/20/2001   175/81

(I wrote UF because Nishino is listed as a "utility player IF/OF")

Buffaloes
1 Futo Kakuta           P   Fuji Univ               R/L   09/23/2004   178/79
2 Shin Nakai            P   Komazawa Univ           R/R   04/22/2004   177/83
3 Akito Haruyama        OF  Osaka Shogyo Univ       R/R   12/10/2004   177/90
4 Ruito Kondoh          P   Otaru Futaba HS         R/R   07/29/2008   184/83
5 Ryosuke Nomura        P   Bukkyo Univ             R/L   10/01/2004   178/90
6 Yuga Chiba            P   Honda                   L/L   06/02/2002   177/85

i1 Ryota Kurokawa       P   Hanasaki Tokuharu HS    R/R   04/11/2008   182/90
i2 Ryuto Ijiri          C   Sendai Univ             R/R   05/31/2004   170/83
i3 Kengo Yoshida        C   Tochigi Golden Braves   R/R   04/30/2002   181/93
i4 George Kawata        IF  Jobu Univ               R/S   12/04/2004   178/87
i5 Kashu Wakatoh        IF  Doho Univ               R/L   01/18/2005   174/64
i6 Daisuke Sugawara     OF  Sendo Ichiba            R/L   11/02/2001   188/95

Before Michael asks me, "George Evan Hauwel Kawata" is his listed name at Jobu University.

Carp
1 Takara Yamasato       IF  Asia Univ               R/R   10/23/2004   174/78
2 Keiya Nishino         C   Ritsumeikan Univ        R/R   07/15/2004   180/78
3 Genki Nohara          P   Kyoto Sangyo Univ       R/R   09/20/2004   184/85
4 Ryohei Yoshikawa      P   Chiba Shokadai Univ     R/R   07/16/2004   186/93
5 Hotaka Mitsuhiro      IF  Meiji Univ              R/L   04/23/2004   178/85
6 Kodai Mori            P   NTT East                R/R   10/01/2005   184/92

i1 Jin Kurumatani       IF  Ibaraki Astro Planets   R/R   02/03/2003   177/80
i2 Asahi Tashiro        C   Tsukuba Univ            R/L   04/06/2004   180/86
i3 Kaito Minayoshi      IF  Nagasaki Kokusai Univ   R/L   08/13/2004   169/77

Fighters
1 Haruki Komoda         P   Yamanashi Gakuin HS     R/R   12/21/2008   195/102
2 Sho Mure              OF  Kyushu Kokusai HS       R/R   07/14/2008   182/92
3 Ryosuke Sueyoshi      P   Okinawa Shogaku HS      L/L   11/28/2008   176/92
4 Sora Katoh            P   Meisei Univ             R/R   12/29/2004   185/92
5 Shoto Okamoto         P   Korigaoka HS            R/L   06/29/2008   180/75

i1 Kohei Okada          OF  Osaka Kogyo Univ        R/L   01/11/2005   184/90
i2 Yuki Fujii           P   Shingu HS               R/R   04/02/2008   197/105
i3 Sota Hangui          IF  Tokyo Nodai Niko HS     R/R   06/25/2008   176/83
i4 Shinya Ojima         IF  Tohoku Fukushi Univ     R/L   05/18/2004   174/84
i5 Keisuke Imazu        IF  Keio Univ               R/S   11/03/2004   178/78

Baystars
1 Sena Hoshino          P   Osaka Shogyo Univ       L/L   06/14/2004   179/78
2 Masanori Honishi      IF  JAL Ishikawa HS         R/R   11/18/2008   190/93
3 Kansai Sugimoto       OF  Univ British Columbia   R/L   07/31/2003   188/105
4 Ryosei Koganei        P   Aomori Univ             R/R   09/16/2004   191/89
5 Eito Kiguchi          P   Jobu Univ               R/R   04/21/2004   186/92
6 Riku Kamizato         C   ENEOS                   R/L   05/03/2002   169/77
7 Wataru Sakaguchi      OF  Honda                   R/R   12/06/2002   185/97

Lions
1 Keito Kawajiri        P   Asia Univ               R/L   10/23/2004   189/93
2 Seiya Kakimoto        P   Panasonic               R/R   05/09/2002   183/80
3 Yusuke Sawayama       P   Yamaha                  L/L   10/15/2003   187/90
4 Ryo Tanaka            C   Nichidai Sanko HS       R/R   11/06/2008   180/105
5 Yamato Nakatsu        OF  Nihon Seimei            R/L   10/02/2002   178/80

i1 Ryodai Miura         P   Ibaraki Astro Planets   R/L   01/02/2006   177/82
i2 Kenshin Kawashima    P   Ryukokudai Heian HS     R/R   05/20/2008   185/77
i3 Koki Gotoh           C   Numazu Shogyo HS        R/R   05/09/2008   181/87

Giants (and ikusei)
1 Shoki Oda             P   Yokohama HS             R/R   06/03/2008   186/82
2 Reito Hirata          P   Oita Shogyo HS          R/R   07/05/2008   188/80
3 Shoma Ikeda           IF  Yokohama HS             R/L   06/26/2008   176/78
4 Mahiro Sugimoto       P   Chiben Gakuen HS        L/L   07/08/2008   177/87
5 Kaito Itoh            IF  Chuo Univ               R/R   09/30/2004   178/87
6 Kaisei Matsudaira     P   Kanagawa Univ           R/R   12/24/2004   192/93

i1 Eito Tanibuchi       C   Osaka Toin HS           R/L   06/14/2008   178/83
i2 Kyuta Yanai          IF  Ube Kogyo HS            R/L   02/04/2009   178/88
i3 Takehito Shima       OF  Hokuetsu HS             R/R   10/31/2008   188/93
i4 Rikuto Matsuda       IF  Matsugen Minoshima      R/L   12/11/2001   175/74
i5 Rentaro Seki         C   Kawasaki Mukaigaoka JHS R/R   12/26/2011   179/82

Yes, that 2011 birth year is not a typo, the Giants have drafted a 14-year-old from their U-15 team.

Hawks
1 Taisei Suzuki         P   Aoyama Gakuin Univ      R/R   05/28/2004   187/79
2 Gaku Arima            P   Ritsumeikan Univ        L/L   07/29/2004   175/78
3 Kazuhiro Watanabe     P   Keio Univ               L/L   05/28/2004   180/80
4 Kojun Fujimori        OF  Hosei Univ              R/L   08/10/2004   170/68
5 Shunta Inomata        P   Tohoku Fukushi Univ     R/L   09/08/2004   185/90
6 Aoto Kotsubo          P   Yanagawa HS             L/L   10/18/2008   183/85
7 Taiga Nakagawa        IF  Shigakkan Univ          R/L   06/15/2004   171/67
8 Ikki Fukami           P   Taiwan Sports Univ      R/R   09/25/2005   183/78
9 Genei Satoh           P   Penn State              R/R   12/17/2004   180/85

Fukami was born in Japan but has lived in Taiwan for half his life and went to college there.

Genei Satoh went to Penn State (yes, in the US) to try to become MLB eligible, bet this was a surprise

i1 Ryosuke Niwa         P   Shiritsu Wakayama HS    R/R   02/10/2009   184/77
i2 Hyuga Kanda          P   Tsuruga Kehi HS         L/L   09/02/2008   177/80
i3 Koki Sugimoto        P   KT Wiz (KBO)            R/R   05/19/2000   182/85
i4 Shoki Tamoto         P   Komazawa Univ           R/L   07/13/2004   190/83
i5 Yujiro Kameda        P   Yamamura Gakuen HS      L/L   04/22/2008   183/93
i6 Eiji Kinoshita       P   Takagawa Gakuen HS      R/R   05/20/2008   179/85
i7 Taiga Tsujimura      OF  Tohoku Fukushi Univ     R/L   04/30/2004   180/70
i8 Yuta Murayama        P   Kansai Kokusai Univ     R/R   11/28/2004   183/83
i9 Musashi Nagayama     IF  Wellness HS Okinawa     R/L   05/24/2008   182/??
i10 Fudai Nerei         UF  Fresno City College     R/R   01/08/2008   175/90
i11 Toranosuke Kamiya   OF  Chiba Sky Sailors       R/R   10/07/2006   180/80
i12 Akira Tsurukawauchi P   Osaka Sangyo Univ       R/R   01/31/2005   182/76
i13 Koki Matsubayashi   P   Osaka Sangyo Univ       R/R   07/23/2004   177/82
i14 Shugo Murakumo      C   Tsuruga Kehi HS         R/R   08/06/2008   178/73
i15 Mamoru Hirayama     C   Tochiku HS              R/R   04/05/2008   175/85

OMG they drafted Yuji Nerei's kid out of an American college, that is so appropriate

Tigers
1 Nanato Sakakibara     OF  Meiji Univ              L/L   07/15/2004   173/76
2 Takumi Baba           P   Nittai Univ             R/R   12/20/2004   184/88
3 Sota Tsunemi          P   Osaka Keizai Univ       L/L   07/19/2004   177/82
4 Kanta Aiba            IF  Yamaha                  R/R   09/21/2002   178/85
5 Riku Matoba           P   Tenri Univ              R/R   11/23/2004   186/81
6 Kaito Koshikawa       C   Tokyo Gas               R/L   06/05/2002   174/83
7 Koki Ishii            P   Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/R   03/15/2003   177/85

i1 Kenshin Yamashita    P   Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/R   11/14/2003   182/87
i2 Seiya Araki          P   Tokushima Indigo Socks  R/R   09/03/2002   182/83