Results of the High School Draft

I can (and will) when I get home from work tonight, unless someone beats me to it.

I will be looking forward to it. Thanks

- I can (and will) when I get home from work tonight, unless someone beats me to it.

I know a hint when I see one.

Here, purloined shamelessly from SanSpo, translated and with all HTML decorations removed, are the draft results.

Club	Round	Position	Name
Chunichi	Rd. 1	Infield	Naomichi Donoue
	Rd. 3	Catcher	Nobumasa Fukuda
Hanshin	Rd. 1	Infield	Masashi Nohara
	Rd. 3	Catcher	Ryohei Hashimoto
	Rd. 4	Pitcher	Ryunosuke Yokoyama
Yakult	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi
	Rd. 3	Outfield	Tsuyoshi Ueda
	Rd. 4	Pitcher	Hiroki Yamada
Yomiuri	Rd. 1	Infield	Hayato Sakamoto
	Rd. 3	Infield	Daijiro Tanaka
	Rd. 4	Catcher	Takahiro Ijuin
Hiroshima	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Kenta Maeda
	Rd. 3	Catcher	Tsubasa Aizawa
Yokohama	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Atsushi Kita
	Rd. 3	Infield	Takayuki Kajitani
	Rd. 4	Catcher	Yuki Takamori

Club	Round	Position	Name
Nippon Ham	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Mitsuo Yoshikawa
	Rd. 3	Pitcher	Yusuke Uemura
	Rd. 4	Pitcher	Romash Tasuku Dass (sp.)
Seibu	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Fumikazu Kimura
	Rd. 3	Pitcher	Daei Zhu (sp.)
Softbank	Rd. 1	Infield	Shuhei Fukuda
	Rd. 3	Infield	Ryuya Ina
	Rd. 4	Infield	Pingyen Lee
Lotte	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Yuta Omine
	Rd. 2	Outfield	Kenji Sato
	Rd. 3	Pitcher	Masato Kurotaki
Orix	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Daisuke Nobue
	Rd. 3	Pitcher	Manato Umemura
	Rd. 4	Pitcher	Takuma Nito
	Rd. 5	Catcher	Kenta Doi
Rakuten	Rd. 1	Pitcher	Masahiro Tanaka
	Rd. 3	Catcher	Hiroaki Yamamoto

[By westbaystars: Thanks for the hard work! Or imitation thereof. ]

You mean Tanaka Masahiro, but yeah. Stupid lottery.

I can't tell if a lot of other teams have put up detailed pages about their draft picks but the Fighters did, at least.

So their high school picks so far are, after losing on the lottery for Tanaka:

1. Yoshikawa Mitsuo, LHP, Koryo High School [Flash site - in English] (Hiroshima)
3. Uemura Yuusuke, RHP, Hokusho High School (Hokkaido)
4. Darth Romash Tasuku, RHP, Kanzei High School (Okayama)

(I know I probably got the last guy's name wrong - I've heard of him before, he's a big Indian-Japanese guy. Hopefully people won't confuse him with Darvish.)

[by Editor: Checked school locations. Still looking for Romash's name in Romaji.]

It's hard to find some names in Romaji sometimes. After hours of searching, this is all I have for references to the spelling of Nippon Ham's 4th round choice:

• Tasuku Dass Romash [Japan Ball]
• Darth Tasuku Romash [Japan Baseball Daily]

Name order (such as Tanaka Masahiro vs. Masahiro Tanaka) is variable. Torakichi did the Western-style given-name family-name order. Tanaka Masahiro is the normal Japanese family-name given-name order. I'm not sure about Dass'/Darth's yet. But the Tasuku is always part of Romash, at the end (ローマシュ匡). I'm not sure how it's jumped about like that.

If his name's Darth, won't the headline writers have fun with that? You know, "Darth strikes out the Dark Side." I'm sure Jim Allen will think of something - he's always peppering his writings with cheesy cliches.

We know what his entrance music has to be, right?

And given that Yoda is a common-ish Japanese surname, perhaps one day NPB fans will be treated to a thrilling duel between Yoda and Darth.

It may vary from locality to locality within Japan, but when my son was born we were told that for all Japanese intents and purposes, he could only have two names. So they probably just put his first and middle names together for J purposes (as we did), creating Roomashutasuku.

Pity poor Brianpetergeorgest.jeanlebaptistedelasalle Eno under this system!

- Pity poor Brianpetergeorgest.jeanlebaptistedelasalle Eno under this system!

Um, could you repeat the part of the stuff where you said all about the ... things?

But back to the subject at hand, I'm thrilled the Dragons got Donoue. Not just because he's a home run hitter, not just because his brother is on the team and his father used to play for them, but because they took him from the Tigers.

(You'd have Tigers on the brain too if you were a Dragons fan and the team chasing you is 14-3 this month. )

- It may vary from locality to locality within Japan, but when my son was born we were told that for all Japanese intents and purposes, he could only have two names.

That's right. Names are registered under the Family Registration Law, which provides for a sei (surname) and a mei (given name). Incidentally, a tsusho (alias) is allowed, but it has to be registered if you want it to be legally recognized.

Isn't "Das" a fairly common Indian surname? I bet that's the actual spelling - but it would be cool to have a player named "Darth"!

Anybody want this Ohmine kid? Maybe I'll regret saying this later, as a Chiba Lotte fan, but I smell another Hayato Terahara.

- Anybody want this Ohmine kid?

It seems Ohmine will only play for Softbank, as his high school coach said he won't negotiate with any Marines officials. It looks like Ohmine will play in the industrial leagues until he can re-enter the draft. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. [Japan Baseball Daily- PL Report for 9/26/06]

So Kazuhito Tadano gets blacklisted from NPB for appearing in an amateur gay porno, and this kid can just basically sulk and refuse to sign with a team he doesn't want to sign with? I hope he realizes how stupid he is during his Industrial League time and then he gets drafted by the BayStars or something. Talk about being completely ungrateful.

I was watching a news clip on YouTube from the draft and saw how happy Tanaka was with going to the Eagles. Then they went to Ohmine, and they showed how much he was sulking and forced himself to say, "I'm happy" while frowning. Good riddance. I really don't want the Marines to have such a bad apple. Now all we need to do is make Takehara a regular next year with Nemoto. There are a bunch of young pitchers just waiting to break out, too.

How come Saitoh was not drafted? Did he decide to go to school instead?

Yes, as I just answered in your other post, Saitoh chose to go on to college.

If I understand correctly, Softbank were the only club who had shown interest in him until a late application by the Marines. Thus he was all geared up to go to Softbank and was suddenly grabbed by another club. Of course he was angry. One also has to question the ethics of the Marines playing around with his future like that. Maybe they thought they were being clever?

Gratitude? For having your dreams wrecked?

There are arguments for and against the draft, and these things will happen. Personally I feel that the draft is outmoded and should be scrapped. Young players should be allowed to chose their own team.

There's been reports that during the National High School Athlete Tournament Marines' scouts and officials were able to get some talks in with Ohmine.

And it seems like his attitude has softened, and said will return back to Okinawa and discuss further with his family. Seems like there's still a chance he will sign with Marines after all. Who knows.

This incident reminded me of the NBA years ago when Steve Francis was drafted no. 2 overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies but did almost exactly the same as Ohmine. As a result? An immediate trade with the Houston Rockets for a few mediocre players.

Well, the strange thing is that Ohmine is from Okinawa and his favorite player is Nagisa Arakaki, who is also from Okinawa. Arakaki pulled the same thing when Orix drafted him in 1998, and he decided to go to college instead. An Orix scout killed himself shortly after, though it's speculation on my part to link it to the failure to sign Arakaki. Part of me thinks that Ohmine was just trying to be Arakaki Jr.

It's all a bit Machievelian as an explanation to say the least. I would prefer my interpretation (well I would say that). The Marines' bid for Ohmine was late, but I won't speculate as to why this was. Young Japanese men can get quite stubborn when stymied.

He's greatly disappointed that more than one team has enough faith in his ability to become a top-level pitcher to use a draft pick on him?

Boo-hoo! He went into the draft knowing full well that any of the 12 teams could select him, not necessarily his chosen team. These are the rules. If you accept the rules, you accept the consequences, regardless of whether the rules are stupid or not. Players that get picked by teams other than their first choices shouldn't be surprised, because they should know going into the draft that it's not a given that things will work out the way they want them to.

I'm very happy the Drags have Fukudome, but his was the same story. He said he would only play for the Dragons or one or two other teams, another team picked him in the draft (Kintetsu?), and he spent the next couple of years in the company leagues (like Nishi, like Motoki, essentially like Arakaki who went to college).

"One has to question the ethics"? Come on, this is the same alternate reality you were selling arguing about Ishii and the foul ball/wild pitch issue. Ethics don't matter. Ethics are volitional. These are not volitional issues. You have rules. You obey the rules. The umpire says it's a wild pitch and not a foul ball, it's a wild pitch and not a foul ball. End of discussion. You enter the draft, you go with the team that uses a draft pick on you, or you sit three (is it three?) years until you are otherwise eligible to sign with a team.

In the major leagues, there are many more transactions between teams (at all levels of play) and a much lower bar for free agency, so there is much more player mobility. It is unfortunate that if you enter the NPB draft as a high schooler, the team you sign with has considerable control over the next nine or more years of your professional career. I would like to see a more equitable situation for the players and prospective players. But Japan doesn't have that currently, and that's the way it is. You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

Ah another one of those - accept the rules without question. As I mentioned above there are arguments for and against the draft. If the young man just accepts it then that's fine, but if he wants to protest and fight, that is also fine. If enough young men protest it will eventually change. But if no one protests or makes a fuss it will never change.

It is important to remember these young men are people not property, and I am afraid that is what the draft is about. You become property of one team, and if you don't like it tough. In no other industry is this feudal attitude tolerated. It doesn't matter about his age, he should have the right to chose who he wants to play for, not some kind of lottery.

Ethics do matter because ethics are what form the basis of society and the interaction between people. Rules can only cover so much, and even then can be bent or misinterpreted. As I understand it, Omine went into the draft expecting just Softbank to select him. The bid by Lotte was last minute and took everyone by surprise. I have no idea why this was, but I can well understand his feelings. You should remember that rules are not the be all and end all - what if in your example the umpire gets it wrong? So there is nothing wrong with challenging or trying to get the rules changed, and there is nothing wrong with Ohmine's behavior. It is looking like he might consider Lotte - if that is his decision fine, as long as it is his decision alone and not some arbitrary draft.

I agree completely that the system as it is is just awful. The very thought of being drafted by a team you don't want to play for, and to be sentenced to (name of team you dislike here) for nine-plus years is frightening. I would like to see the system changed, but I'm not sure what will drive change.

The high schoolers themselves don't have a strong enough position to get the system changed - the owners (er, teams) can wait them out as they lose precious years of their careers. The owners don't have any reason to adopt a more amicable system. The players union doesn't have any real interest in fixing the draft - they've already suffered under the system, and if anything, their concern is winning better conditions for current players, not future players, so they might even concede a lousy draft system to the owners if they can get a concession from them in some other area. External pressure, such as after the Orix scout killed himself, could have made some sort of difference, but only if someone had focused that on a solution rather than blame. What will bring about change?

At the same time, I don't think prospects should be able to choose their teams, because that is likely to end up with the strong getting stronger.

What's the system in MLB? If a team can't reach a deal with a draft pick, what happens? Is he unsignable for a year? Two years?

- What's the system in MLB? If a team can't reach a deal with a draft pick, what happens? Is he unsignable for a year? Two years?

That team has 1 year to sign the player after they draft them. If they fail to sign him before the next year's draft, then the player can re-enter the draft.

This has happened numerous times before, one instance I can think of right away is Baltimore and Wade Townsend. Townsend then entered the draft the next year and was drafted by Tampa Bay.

I'm pretty sure it's one year in MLB.

Another thing hurting these Japanese draftees is that there's only one level of minor league play. In MLB, the team that drafts you is not necessarily the team that you'll reach the majors with, as many prospects are traded multiple times before reaching the AA and AAA levels. (I don't think there's a single Major League team who has developed, draft-to-MLB-debut, more than half the players on their 25-man roster.

Lowering the wait period for people who don't sign would be a great thing not only for NPB but for semi-minor leagues like Shikoku. These leagues would get to enjoy more talent as more players found themselves willing to sacrifice one year rather than three in order to avoid playing for a team they despise, and in turn the more dictatorial teams would have to adjust or risk losing their draftees. As things stand now, kids who get drafted are basically stuck for the aforementioned nine years, since few people are confident enough to be willing to risk a full three seasons in the industrial leagues before getting another shot at being drafted.

The MLB draft rules are here (and there's a decent FAQ too).

Technically there's no exact limitation on how often a guy can be drafted, except that university freshmen and sophomores can't be drafted, so if a guy gets drafted out of high school in like the 45th round and doesn't like that, he can pretty much just go to college, but that means he won't be eligible again for a few years. What often happens is a college guy gets drafted in his junior year, and if he doesn't like the offer, he can just stay for his senior year and try to get picked again the year after. The disadvantage at that point is that they don't have as much leverage over the offer - out of high school, or in junior year, they can basically say "If you don't make me an offer, I'll just go back to school," but as seniors, they're sort of screwed; "Yeah! If you don't make me a good offer, I'm going to go play for the St. Paul Saints!" isn't exactly a huge threat.

The #1 overall draft pick in MLB this year, Luke Hochevar, had something like that happen to him - picked out of high school by the Dodgers, turned it down, picked out of junior year of university by the Dodgers, turned it down, graduated and signed with an independent league as a showcase, then the Royals drafted him, and he signed.

There's a clause saying that the same team can't pick a player in consecutive years unless the player consents to it, too, meaning that it can't be like "Ha! The Pirates pick you!" "I'm going to senior year!" "Ha! The Pirates pick you!" "I'm going to sign with an independent league!" "Ha! The Pirates pick you!" "Fine, I'll sign! Jeez! Leave me alone!"

Anyway, I think the draft is a good thing, because it means the weaker teams still can get good new players. In a world without the draft, every talented kid that grows up a Giants fan goes to play for the Giants, or every talented kid that grows up a Yankees fan goes and plays for the Yankees. In reality, the guys who get drafted should just feel really lucky that they get to go out and play baseball for a living, rather than sitting in an office all day or something similar.

(Though in recent years there's been another problem coming up, that being small-market teams not being able to afford the huge signing bonuses demanded by the top talent. That's how the best talent in this year's draft, Andrew Miller, wasn't taken until the 6th pick, because he basically told teams he wouldn't sign for anything less than something like $6 million and a major-league contract.)

I've been hoping that the positive quotes we've been hearing from Masahiro Tanaka are pretty much along those lines - like, "sure, Rakuten kind of sucks, but, hey, I'm going to play baseball on a pro team, probably even sooner than I would have on most other teams. How cool is that?"

University Sophomores may be drafted by MLB teams so long as they are 21 years old.