College Draft

I'm not sure about juniors' availability, so I'll skip that part of the question.

As for names, Nikkan Sports has published their 2007 University and Industrial Draft magazine (ISBN978-4-8172-5373-6). In it they rank the top choices and give a bit of a profile on them. Here is a short list of some of the top prospects:

Rank, Pos, Name (family name first), University/Company
AA, P, Ohba Shota, Toyo University
BA, P, Kobayashi Kenji, Aoyama Gakuin University
AA, P, Katoh Mikinori, Keio University
A, P, Miyanishi Naoki, Kansai Gakuin University
A, P, Hasegawa hohei, Aichi Industrial University
BA, SS, Kokubo Tetsuya, Aoyama Gakuin University
B, OF, Ogai Yuki, Asia University
BA, OF, Oze Hiroyuki, Kinki University
A, P, Hattori Yasutaka, Toyoda Automotive
A, P, Tazawa Junichi, Shin-Nihon Sekiyu Eneos
B, P, Hirano, Takashi, Hosei University
BA, P, Nemoto Tomohisa, Yokohama Shoka (Commerce) University
BA, P, Kume Yuki, Meiji University
BA, P, Yamauchi Souma, Meijo University

Of course there are many more, but that should give you a good idea of who to look into.

Thanks for the info. Could you possibly tell me how many rounds this draft will have? The high school draft had seven, so I was just curious if this one would be similar?

The November 17 issue of Daigaku Yakyu has a brief list of college players to look at for 2008.

But as in most cases, these are the ones with a lot of high school and college publicity. The pro scouts usually wait until the Spring season of the fourth year before seriously lining up their selections.

1st through 3rd year students are not eligible for the draft. Should a student quit school and attempt to join a pro or industrial league team, there are certain requirements to include certification from the school that must be obtained before the student can continue baseball until his class graduates. They cannot declare hardship, or other status as in the States.

Also, on Westbaystars list, I think you missed typed "Hasebe" as Hasegawa. He is Aiichi's ace left hander and the only college pitcher currently listed on the Japan Olympic team. He, along with Toyo U's Oba and Keio U's Katoh, are considered the top picks for the draft on the 19th. Also, Robert Boothe from Asia U, who is currently being vetted by the Dodgers (as reported in Sports Hochi) and is also apparently of interest to Yokohama, may also go high.