The 2026 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft took place Thursday in Tokyo, with Japan's top amateur prospects learning where they could begin their professional careers.

But the biggest surprise of the night came when the Yomiuri Giants used their first round nomination on Yokohama High School pitcher Shoki Oda, despite his stated intention to pursue a career in the United States, where he has drawn significant interest from several Major League clubs.

Just one week earlier, the 18-year-old right-hander formally announced his plans to bypass NPB and head stateside, either by attending an NCAA school or signing directly with an MLB organization. One of Japan's most highly touted pitching prospects, Oda had been projected as a highly contested pick in NPB’s nomination and lottery system before his announcement. His decision appeared to take him out of consideration, but the Giants were willing to gamble on changing his mind.

The move comes just one year after the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks competed in a draft lottery for Stanford University slugger Rintaro Sasaki, who had also elected to pursue a career in the United States. SoftBank won the lottery and made a strong push to sign Sasaki this summer, but he ultimately joined the Miami Marlins after being selected in the eighth round of the MLB Draft.

The Fighters' selection of Shohei Ohtani in 2012 also offers parallels. Ohtani had publicly declared his intention to begin his professional career in the U.S., but the Fighters drafted him anyway. They eventually convinced him to stay in Japan with a development plan that would allow him to pursue his ambitions as a two-way player and eventually make the jump to MLB through the posting system.

The Giants now face a similar challenge, and there is no guarantee Oda will reconsider. The right-hander, who helped Yokohama reach the Summer Koshien semifinals and has reached 98 mph, remained firm in his desire to begin his career in America during his post-draft interview. For Yomiuri, the selection is a significant gamble, potentially sacrificing a first round pick with no compensation for a player who may never sign.

Other Notable First Round Picks

Elsewhere in the first round, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks landed Taisei Suzuki, a star right-hander from Aoyama Gakuin University, after winning a lottery against the Chiba Lotte Marines. Suzuki was widely considered the top arm in the class, with a high-spin fastball and a devastating splitter.

The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters emerged as one of the biggest winners of the night, securing Yamanashi Gakuin High School two-way standout Haruki Komoda without having to enter a lottery. Komoda was widely regarded as the highest-upside talent in the class, and the Fighters offer an ideal landing spot given their experience developing two-way players like Ohtani, Kota Yazawa, and Reo Shibata.

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles selected his Aoyama Gakuin batterymate Kai Watabe, an athletic catcher with a strong arm and a consistent offensive track record. The Chunichi Dragons also pursued Watabe, but Rakuten won the two-team lottery.

Meanwhile, the Saitama Seibu Lions selected Keito Kawajiri from Asia University, another high-octane righty who can reach 98 mph and threw a no-hitter earlier this month.

SoftBank Takes a Flyer on Genei Sato

SoftBank also made an intriguing selection in the ninth round, grabbing right-hander Genei Sato, another highly regarded prospect pursuing a career in the U.S. Sato was considered a potential first round pick before transferring from Sendai University to Penn State last year, putting himself on track to become eligible for the 2027 MLB Draft.

Sato has shown a fastball approaching 100 mph and, like Oda, has little apparent desire to sign with an NPB club. However, a ninth round pick carries far less risk than Yomiuri's first round gamble on Oda, and the Hawks have secured the rights to negotiate with Sato should he reconsider his plans.

Unconventional Picks

Beyond the high-profile selections, several teams looked to unconventional sources for talent. Yomiuri made more headlines by drafting 14-year-old middle school catcher Rentaro Seki as a developmental player.

SoftBank selected Ikki Fukami from National Taiwan University of Sport, Futa Nezu from Fresno City College in California, and Koki Sugimoto, a Japanese right-hander playing for the KBO's KT Wiz.

DeNA also went overseas, taking Kansai Sugimoto, a two-way player from the University of British Columbia, in the third round.