2009 Draft: First Round Preview
The NPB draft is tomorrow, and no shock here, but Yusei Kikuchi will be the story of the first round. So far seven teams have announced an intent to select Kikuchi in the first round. Here’s the breakdown:
- Yokohama: Yoshitomo Tsutsugo
- Hiroshima: Takeru Imamura
- Hanshin: Kikuchi
- Yakult: Kikuchi
- Chunichi: Kikuchi
- Yomiuri: Hisayoshi Chono
- Orix: unannounced (Kikuchi)
- Chiba Lotte: Kikuchi
- Seibu: Kikuchi
- SoftBank: unannounced (Kikuchi)
- Rakuten: Kikuchi
- Nippon Ham: Kikuchi
SoftBank has been very quiet on Kikuchi, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sneak up on Hiroshima and pick Imamura instead of trying their luck on Kikuchi. Orix has talked quite a bit about Kikuchi and I do think they’ll pick him. In any event Kikuchi has a realistic shot at breaking Hideo Nomo’s record of being selected by eight teams in the draft. But when he’s selected, there will still be a number of good prospects on the table, so we should see multiple drawings.
For a refresher on how it works, please see our primer on the NPB draft.