Looking Ahead to the Draft

» 05 September 2009 » In npb draft »

One of my favorite sites, Draft Reports, has published a rundown of what’s known about each NPB team’s draft plans for this year.

Obviously Yusei Kikuchi is the consensus favorite this year, but there are a couple other names to watch as well. The popularity of Kikuchi as a pick could lead to some interesting strategies for other teams — will teams use the popularity of Kikuchi as a pick to swoop in a grab other top candidates uncontested? To get a sense of how the the NPB draft works, please see our overview of the topic.

On to the projections.

Orix

1st pick candidates: Yusei Kikuchi (Hanamaki Higashi HS), Kazuhito Futagami (Hosei University), Masato Nakazawa (Toyota), Masanori Fujiwara (Ritsumeikan University), Yoshitomo Tsutsugo (Yokohama HS), Shota Dobayashi (Chukyo HS)

Other high-round candidates: Takashi Ogino (Toyota), Masato Kiyashiki (Kinki-Dai HS)

Orix appears to be undecided among the 1st-round candidates listed above.

Yokohama

1st pick candidates: Tsutsugo,  Kikuchi, Nakazawa, Fujiwara

Other high-round candidates: Dobayashi, Kiyashiki

The latest reports suggest that Yokohama has narrowed its first pick choices down to Kikuchi and Tsutsugo. I would expect them to default towards local boy Tsutsugo, but he’s a slugging first baseman, and the organizational need is pitching.

Chiba Lotte

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Futagami, Toshiya Okada (Chiben Wakayama HS), Ikuhiro Kiyota (NTT East), Takayuki Makka (Tokai Boyo HS)

Other high-round candidates: Ogino, Kenta Imamiya (Meiho HS), Masato Mashiro (Nissan), Shota Ohmine (Yae Sho HS)

Latest word is that Lotte is set on Kikuchi with Okada and Imamiya to fall back on.

Hanshin

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Nakazawa, Futagami, Fujiwara, Ogino, Makka, Okada, Nobuaki Nakabayashi (Keio University), Hisayoshi Chono (Honda), Hisashi Takeuchi (Hosei University),Tetsu Anan (Nittsu), Hiroyuki Kawahara (Fukuoka University Ohori HS),

Other high-round candidates: Dobayashi, Kiyota, Kiyashiki, Takahiro Araki (Kinki University), Yutaka Ohtsuka (Soka University), Yusuke Matsui (Tokyo University of Agriculture), Masato Matsui (Jobu University)

Now it gets interesting. Hanshin has Kikuchi in their sights as well, but is actively planning a contingency in case they don’t get him. Hanshin has been floating the idea of Chono with their first pick if they miss out on Kikuchi. My guess is that this is a bluff to get the Giants to spend they’re first pick on a guy who isn’t really first round talent.

Rakuten

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Tsutsugo

Other high-round candidates: Ogino, Dobayashi, Imamiya

Things have been quiet on the Rakuten draft front. On the surface Tsutsugo would appear to better address the organization’s main need, which is offense.

Hiroshima

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Dobayashi, Imamiya, Futagami

Other high-round candidates: Takeuchi, Kenta Matsushita (Waseda University), Nobuyoshi Yamada (Tsuruga Kehi HS), Yutaro Sakurada (Hachinohe University)

Pretty familiar looking names on Hiroshima’s first pick list; but some new ones on their secondary list.

Seibu

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Tsutsugo, Futagami

Other high-round candidates: Ryoji Nakata (Asia University)

First mention of Nakata, the short, round college first baseman. On paper, I have my doubts about that guy’s ability to succeed at the pro level, but to see him bookended in the infield with the pudgy Okawari-kun would be interesting to say the least. Reportedly looking at Futagami as their top pick, and they could probably get him easily in the first round.

Yakult

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Tsutsugo, Nakazawa

Other high-round candidates: Imamiya, Makka, Katsu Nakamura (Kasukabe Kyoei HS)

Pretty vanilla list, with the exception of Nakamura, who draws comparisons to Yu Darvish. His delivery is clearly Darvish-inspired. Yakult is currently between Tsutsugo and Kikuchi for their top pick.

SoftBank

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Kawahara, Takeru Imamura (Seiho HS)

Other high-round candidates: Imamiya

Another unexciting pool, SoftBank is looking at Kikuchi or Imamura with their top pick according to the latest issue of Shukan Baseball.

Chunichi

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Imamiya, Fujiwara, Makka

Other high-round candidates: Futagami,Takahiro Suwabe (Honda), Yohei Oshima (Nihon Seimei)

Same players, different team for Chunichi. Chunichi has quietly drafted consistently well over the last few years, so we’ll see how they do with this group.

Nippon Ham

1st pick candidates: Kikuchi, Makka, Tsutsugo, Imamura, Futagami, Okada, Fujiwara

Other high-round candidates: Imamiya, Masayoshi Kato (Kyushu International University)

Kikuchi would give Ham a golden boy to go with Darvish; while Tsutsugo would be a contemporary for Sho Nakata.

Yomiuri

1st pick candidates: Chono

Other high-round candidates: unknown

The Kyojin-gun hasn’t deviated publicly from their intent to select Chono, but there has been some speculation that they’re interested in Kikuchi like everyone else. Not too long ago, however, I read an article that quoted a member of the Giants’ front office as saying to the other Central League teams “go ahead and pick Kikuchi”.

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  1. Patrick
    Deanna
    05/09/2009 at 7:45 am Permalink

    Gotta add that the “Imamura” listed is Takeru Imamura from Seiho, the kid who beat Kikuchi in senbatsu.

    I *want* Kenta Imamiya on the Fighters, but it’s not going to happen.

    Yamada from Tsuruga Kehi is interesting. Yeah, he got kind of stomped by Teikyo, but I remember him being really fun to watch when I was at Koshien, along with his hat flying off after almost every pitch. A big lefty kid like that could turn into something good.

    Something I don’t understand is why people have Takeuchi on their draft list — he’s barely played at Hosei at all, though he’s kind of hyped up anyway. I’d expect more to see some of Hosei’s batters on people’s lists, like Shingo Kamegai or Shuhei Ishikawa… but I’m certainly not a scout. I also wouldn’t bother having Nakabayashi from Keio as a high pick. (I’ve seen him a lot, I like him, but I don’t think he’s that good. I guess he IS a tall rubber-armed lefty though.) It’ll be interesting to see where Futagami ends up.

    Oh yeah, the thing with Seibu taking Ryoji Nakata was that he’d be hilarious as Okawari-kun The Second. I can just imagine the team having an advertisement parody with the two of them as sumo wrestlers or something, meeting on the pitching mound from across the field. On the other hand… Seibu really does NOT need yet another guy on their squad who can basically only play 1B or DH. Seriously.

  2. Patrick
    Patrick
    05/09/2009 at 8:05 am Permalink

    Yeah, it’s Takeru Imamura. It’s funny, after I published this and went up to bed, I was reading the Nikkan Sports draft guide before I fell asleep, and I seriously thought to myself, “ahh, I forgot Imamura. I hope Deanna doesn’t catch that”.

  3. Patrick
    Deanna
    05/09/2009 at 8:16 am Permalink

    Oh man, if not for the fact that I’ve been dealing with a lot of “Imanari/Imanami” dyslexia recently in English it probably wouldn’t have stuck out to me, but Imamiya/Imamura is similar. So I was also doing a double-take — it’s even better because ImaMIYA is from Meiho and ImaMURA is from Seiho! 🙂

  4. Patrick
    Taisuke
    06/09/2009 at 6:36 pm Permalink

    Will Imamiya play as a pitcher or infielder at pro?

    I went to the Japan vs US high school game at Comptom. He was playing at SS for most of the game and pitched 1.2 IP as a reliever. His fastball looked pretty nice about 91-92 mph.

  5. Patrick
    Patrick
    07/09/2009 at 8:37 am Permalink

    Looking at the comments here, the scouts seem pretty split: http://draftrepo.blog47.fc2.com/blog-entry-396.html

    From a gut feel perspective, I suspect his small build will play better in the field than on the mound. When I saw him in Koshien this year, it looked like he was overthrowing at times.

Trackbacks

  1. [...] A franchise’s future can depend on the winning the rights to Yusei Kikuchi (assuming he decides to enter the…

  2. [...] The Japan team roster (link in Japanese) included a couple of top candidates for this year’s draft. [...]