Report: Nippon Ham Intends to Draft Otani
Update:Â Nippon Ham did indeed draft Otani, and Ben Badler has confirmed that that won’t legally stop him from signing with an MLB team. I had implied that it would, at least until the negotiation period ends, and I was incorrect about that.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand we have our first bit of drama in Shohei Otani‘s journey to MLB. Quoted in Sanspo, Nippon Ham Fighters GM Masao Yamada has declared his intent to select Otani with his first pick in today’s (JST time) draft.
“Regarding Otani-kun, he’s made comments saying like to go to a Major League team, but as a ball club we will follow through with our intent to select the strongest player with our first pick. We plan to select Otani-kun.”
「大谷å›ã«é–¢ã—ã¾ã—ã¦ã¯ãƒ¡ã‚¸ãƒ£ãƒ¼çƒå›£ã«è¡ŒããŸã„ã¨ã„ã†ã‚³ãƒ¡ãƒ³ãƒˆãŒã‚ã‚Šã¾ã—ãŸãŒã€çƒå›£ã¨ã—ã¾ã—ã¦ã¯ä¸€ç•ªåŠ›ã®ã‚ã‚‹é¸æ‰‹ã‚’１ä½æŒ‡åã™ã‚‹ã¨ã„ã†æ–¹é‡ã‚’貫ãã¾ã™ã€‚大谷å›ã‚’１ä½æŒ‡åã™ã‚‹ã¤ã‚‚ã‚Šã§ã™ã€
note: the “kun” suffix is a name identifier; kind of like “san” for young men.
If Nippon Ham (or any other NPB team) drafts Otani, they will have the right to sign him until the end of March 2013. The MLB and NPB working agreement prohibits one league from signing players who are under contract with a team from the other league, so at a minimum being selected in the draft would delay Otani signing with an MLB club for several months.
Why would Yamada pick Otani, despite his intent to sign with an MLB club? Well, he’s within his rights to do so, since Otani announced his MLB plans after declaring eligible for the NPB draft. Yamada must feel that Otani’s upside is worth the signability risk. Maybe he thinks he can talk him into signing. This move is not unprecedented; last year Yamada selected Tomoyuki Sugano, the consensus top college arm in the draft, who had let it be known that he would not sign with anyone other than the Yomiuri Giants. Sugano didn’t even negotiate with Nippon Ham and is back in the draft this year.
24/10/2012 at 10:27 am Permalink
Being selected in the draft isn’t the same as being under contract though, or am I missing something?
24/10/2012 at 10:33 am Permalink
@Simon, drafting a player gives a team exclusive rights to sign that player to his contract.
What’s interesting is if he goes to MLB, Nippon Ham would have lost Yu Darvish and missed signing their 1st round pick in each of the past 2 years.
24/10/2012 at 11:18 am Permalink
I think this is a pretty smart move on the part of Mr. Yamada. If he signs him and he agrees to a contract he would probably end up being posted and Nippon Ham would receive some compensation. and If the posting fee isn’t large enough or Mr. Otani can’t agree on a contract with an MLB team than he gets the player.
I also like this idea from Mr. Otani’s prospective only if posting and then signing a player doesn’t count against the newly implemented international spending cap.
24/10/2012 at 12:00 pm Permalink
I am shocked Yamada hasn’t been canned by ownership (if that’s who fires the GM in NPB). He insists blowing high draft picks on nigh-unsignable talent, potentially crippling the team for years to come, and he keeps his job? Sounds like business strategy is taking a backseat to ego and the team and its fans are the ones who’ll have to suffer for it.
24/10/2012 at 12:06 pm Permalink
If you have a premium membership with Baseball America, they have a article on japanese prospects with the title Otani may not be the best … I wonder if they are talking amateurs like Sugano or NPB like Maeda???
I’ll read it later tonight.
24/10/2012 at 12:06 pm Permalink
His team made the Japan Series this year without Darvish and Sugano.
The other side of the coin is that he’s willing to take a risk for his team than take the safe route. There’s something to be said for that.
24/10/2012 at 1:42 pm Permalink
Note: please do not post content from behind other site’s paywalls here. Those comments will be deleted.
24/10/2012 at 2:56 pm Permalink
From Ben Badler’s twitter.
Ben Badler â€@BenBadler
Meet Shintaro Fujinami, the Japanese HS pitcher who may be better than Shohei Otani. Your guide to both prospects: http://bit.ly/SsfSpC
@BobbyA
I know that the draft effectively provides an exclusive negotiating window for one NPB club to agree a contract with the player, and that this excludes other NPB clubs from trying to sign him. It isn’t clear to me that being drafted would preclude an MLB club from trying to sign him, assuming he hasn’t reached agreement with the NPB club. The wording that Patrick used, “The MLB and NPB working agreement prohibits one league from signing players who are under contract with a team from the other league” suggests to me that Otani would only be off-limits to MLB clubs if he signed with an NPB team rather than just being drafted by one.
24/10/2012 at 5:33 pm Permalink
In your opinion, who is the better prospect, Otani or Fujinami?
24/10/2012 at 9:15 pm Permalink
I prefer Otani.
25/10/2012 at 2:48 pm Permalink
Honestly, I think it’s a fine move. Remember that the first round of the draft in Japan is ridiculous anyway. Picking Ohtani is not THAT worse than picking Fujinami and losing the lottery; you’re going to get a lesser player either way, right?
I *love* our picking Yohei Kagiya (I have been quietly watching him turn into an amazing pitcher these last few years at Chuo) with the #3 pick and almost all of our other picks honestly, if I had any complaint at all it’s that we took all righties, and that’s not really a terrible thing as there weren’t a ton of strong lefties in this draft class anyway.
26/10/2012 at 6:08 am Permalink
Is Shohei Otani aware of what it’s like to play in the Minors here? He must be right? Why would anyone choose that life over what he’ll get in Hokkaido? I don’t know if he’ll get special treatment, but I doubt he’ll get very much of it, not in the Minors. He’ll eat a lot of American junk food, take buses everywhere and travel all night. Nobody is going to understand him unless a translator is with him 24/7. Very few people will even know who he is and even fewer will care. I don’t care how good he THINKS he is, there is no guarantee he’ll even make the Majors at all, let alone in a few years. I don’t know much about salary, so I’m not going to touch that. It took Tazawa 5 years to be a semi-regular pitcher IN THE BULLPEN for a last place team in 2012. He should really reconsider this…
26/10/2012 at 6:10 am Permalink
What can you tell us about Yohei Kagiya Deanna?
26/10/2012 at 11:14 am Permalink
Tazawa signed in late 2008, reached MLB as a starter in 2009, blew out his elbow and needed TJ in 2010, worked his way back in 2011, and established himself at the MLB level in 2012. But he’s a bad comp for Otani as he was a much more polished ballplayer at 22 when he signed, with lower upside.
26/10/2012 at 11:32 am Permalink
Gotcha, thanks for the clarification Patrick. I’m not a Red Sox fan, so I never really followed Tazawa closely, he’s just the only other Japanese player I know of to skip the NPB entirely. At 19 he’s going to be able to look forward to what? 4-5 years in the minors right? I think the average age of rookie pitchers is 24 if I recall correctly. I guess this is a moot point ultimately, but I just can’t help wondering.
26/10/2012 at 11:39 am Permalink
Yes, Otani’s path would almost certainly be longer, given that Tazawa was 22 and went straight to 2A. Otani would probably start in low-a or short season ball, depending on when he signs. The best comparable for Otani is probably a high school pitcher taken in the first or second rounds of the MLB draft, or Korean or Taiwanese pitchers signed out of high school.
26/10/2012 at 11:40 am Permalink
Sorry for the double posting, I just wanted to clarify my above comment. My point is simply, why not play for those 4-5 years with the Fighters, get the polish and the experience, then request to be posted? Surely they could negotiate something into his contract like with Darvish…
26/10/2012 at 3:49 pm Permalink
He’s probably have a better shot at long term MLB success going through the minors than through NPB. The goal of minor league teams is to prepare players for MLB; the goal of NPB teams is to win ball games. He would almost certainly experience less wear and tear on his arm if he spends his first few years in the minors as opposed to NPB.
26/10/2012 at 4:06 pm Permalink
I don’t know anything about how a player like Otani would be handled in Japan. I’d imagine if he would be at short-season/low-A sort of level in the US, he’d still be a long way from being NPB ready, or am I wrong?
26/10/2012 at 4:25 pm Permalink
In NPB he would certainly open the season with his team’s farm (ni-gun) team. I think it wouldn’t be out of the question for him to get innings at the top level (ichi-gun) in his first season, but it would depend on his performance and his team’s needs. In America he’ll be adjusting to new surroundings. learning English, etc, so I anticipate him starting at a lower level.
30/10/2012 at 7:41 pm Permalink
Hello Patrick,
Do you know if Shukan baseball magazine does a special after draft (with results)?
thanks
30/10/2012 at 9:04 pm Permalink
Yes, they do. The Oct 25 issue was the draft wrap-up: http://www.sportsclick.jp/magazine/baseball/new/
I don’t have this one though, Shu-Be has become a little bit harder to find around here.