Nationals Draft Japanese National
In addition to quietly selecting some guy named Strasburg in this week’s MLB draft, the Nationals took Japan native Naoya Washiya in the 14th round, out of a junior college in the Palm Springs, California area.
Probably the most interesting thing in the Nikkan Sports story on him is that he was a high school teammate of current Rakuten ace Masahiro Tanaka. Washington selected Washiya in the 42nd round of last year’s draft as well, but he elected to stay in school. This time around he’s decided to sign, rather than continuing on to a four-year school as he had originally planned.
Washiya is a speedy outfielder and will start his pro career in either short-season or single-A ball.
PS. Please excuse the title of this post.
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