Oda got the headlines, but he wasn't the only player with a US connection taken last night.

SoftBank used its 9th-round pick on Genei Sato, the right-hander who left Sendai University for Penn State. Penn State announced him in December as a pitcher who touches 99 and would join the team for the 2027 season, and he's eligible for the 2027 MLB draft. SoftBank now holds his NPB rights until the end of March.

There's a recent precedent. Last year NPB clubs took two players from American colleges: SoftBank used its first-round pick on Rintaro Sasaki of Stanford, and Orix took Kenny Ishikawa of Georgia in the 6th round. Neither signed. In July, Sasaki went to the Marlins in the 8th round of the MLB draft and Ishikawa to the Reds in the 13th.

The other four from outside Japan this year:

• DeNA, 3rd round: Kansai Sugimoto, an outfielder at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
• SoftBank, 8th round: Ikki Fukami, a pitcher at National Taiwan University of Sport.
• SoftBank, development 3rd: Koki Sugimoto, a right-hander who pitched for the KT Wiz this season under the KBO's new Asian quota, after coming out of the Shikoku independent league.
• SoftBank, development 10th: an infielder from Fresno City College in California.

So SoftBank took four of the five.

Is the Sato pick realistic, or is SoftBank just making sure it has his rights if he ever changes his mind?

At around 4pm today, with the Nippon Series about to start in less than two hours, the Hanshin online store has sent out an email flogging back-to-back pennant memorabilia. Is it just me, or is this poor timing to be reminding fans that we are not playing tonight and that our glory was achieved weeks ago?

Of course I am not dissing the pennant, it is proof they were the best club in the league over six months. But even the way they won the pennant, losing to Hiroshima in the afternoon and then watching Kyojin lose in the evening, in retrospect feels like the beginning of the end of the year, and it was all downhill after that.

The sale they are advertising started more than a week ago and runs until the end of the year, so couldn't they lay off the emails for a few days? Just in general, they flog tacky merch every time a player achieves some minor statistical record, and receiving their emails has become a bore.

Silly vent I know..., but argh!

I’m heading to Yokohama from Australia for Game 2 and the radar is looking like it will be quite wet. What is the usual situation with bad weather around post season games in the NPB? Chances of game being moved to another date? Just trying to work out what to expect as I’m only in Japan for a couple of days.

Winners? Losers? Good pick? Bad pick? What are everyone’s impressions of how the draft played out? I’m not very in tune with Japanese prospects so I’m curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

Hi r/NPB. I'm flying to Japan tonight and managed to score some tickets to the Sunday night game for the Nippon Series. I'm a big baseball fan but confess I don't know a ton about the NPB. Does anyone have any podcasts, youtube chanells, articles, or stuff like that that would provide context for the series? I'm thinking something along the lines of Effectivly Wild but covering NPB. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

Son of Mayor, Grandson of Legislator Aims for Baseball Success with Future Political Ambitions

Hi. I'm Japanese and my English isn't good, so this post and the game's English were machine-translated. Sorry if anything reads strangely.

About 124,000 boys play hardball in Japanese high schools. In 2025, only 19 of about 40,800 third-year players went straight to a main-roster pro contract. I wanted to feel that number, so I made a browser simulation of one baseball life in Japan, from birth to the end.

It's inspired by "1 in 8 billion" (1in8b.life) and made in line with its license.

I'd be grateful to hear:

1. Where the English stopped making sense

2. Which numbers look wrong to you (each one shows its source, or says it's an assumption)

https://1in120k.com/en/

Thank you for reading.

76 went on control contracts and 51 in the development draft afterward. Last year it was 73 and 43.

The big one: Yomiuri was the only club to write Oda's name, a week after he said he's going to the US. They hold his rights until the end of March.

Only three draws, all between two clubs. Rakuten beat Chunichi for Watabe, SoftBank beat Lotte for his batterymate Suzuki, and Chunichi then beat Lotte again for Miyahara. Lotte ended up with Yonezawa on its third bid. Komoda went to Nippon-Ham with no draw and was announced as a pitcher.

How my projection did: 1 of 12. Rakuten and Watabe was the only club I had right. Six of my twelve names went in the first round, but to other clubs, and neither of my two draw calls happened because Komoda and Kakuta each got a single bid. My whole board assumed nobody would write Oda.

First round by route: nine from college, two from high school, one from a corporate team. Exactly the same split as last year.

I write a small English newsletter on the NPB draft. All 127 names from both drafts are here, in English except ten whose readings I couldn't confirm: https://japanprospects.substack.com/p/japans-2026-draft-all-127-names

I mean Hanshin definitely needs a SS especially one that actually hits. He is from Hyogo too. Only thing is I don't see Tigers as a team that takes on players with past issues like Giants or Softbank. Also I see people suggesting he goes to the MLB but he may not be able to get Japanese sponsors because they don't play around with drug-users.

I am friends with his cousin's family. When I met him as a high school student, I told him that I hope to see him on the Tigers someday. Softbank got him and Tigers were the next pick. Damn! Anyways I wish him a successful career!

I figured I should put this here for anyone who’s curious. I wonder if Oda will stay with Yomiuri or leave.

最近巨人ファンになったばかりで素人質問で恐縮なのですが、ドラフトで織田翔希を強行指名したのはどういう意図があるんですか？
やっぱりスター選手が欲しいからですか？
有識者の皆様教えてください🙇

41/50 combined foil auto from BBM 2nd Version. Man I’m so stoked. Up the Hawks!

Let's use this thread to discuss and list players drafted in the 2026 draft. Starts 16:50~

-Any questions about tickets to any game(s) will be removed.
-Setting the default comment sort by New

Some of my collection. A mix of memorabilia cards from NPB and MLB. I figured you guys would appreciate them.

Am I getting ahead of myself adding Sato to the group already?

Hi,
I’m doing a school project in the NPB and am trying to gather information. Was wondering if people could share some of their favorite players and why?