This is being done in the same format as previous years' drafts.
EDIT FRIDAY MORNING: I moved all of the "liveblogging" rambling commentary BELOW the grid now, including the first-round draft lottery.
Information for this grid is being taken from a variety of places -- online if possible, draft magazines if not. Unfortunately, they do sometimes disagree by a centimeter or two or a few kilograms, so.
Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt
-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------
Dragons
1. Yudai Ohno P Bukkyo Univ L/L 1988.09.26 182/72
2. Daiki Yoshikawa IF PL Gakuen HS R/R 1992.08.21 175/70
3. Yuta Mutoh P Honda R/R 1989.06.14 178/85
4. Yuto Morikoshi IF Meijo Univ R/R 1988.08.11 178/70
5. Keisuke Seki P Komono HS R/R 1993.02.06 177/79
Tigersx Tatsuya Ohishi
1. Daiki Enokida P Tokyo Gas L/L 1986.08.06 179/81
2. Shinta Hifumi P Tokaidai Sagami HS R/R 1992.09.29 184/86
3. Masahiro Nakatani C Fukuoka Kodai Joto HS R/R 1993.01.05 184/85
4. Akira Iwamoto P Nanyo Kogyo HS R/L 1992.10.21 180/80
5. Fumiya Araki IF Meiji Univ R/L 1988.04.25 181/75
Ikusei
I1. Tetsuya Sakaguchi IF Wakayama Ichiko HS R/L 1992.08.31 180/78
I2. Hiroya Shimamoto P Fukuchiyama Seibi HS L/L 1993.02.14 176/63
I3. Masaki Anada IF Minoo Higashi HS R/R 1993.02.01 180/78
Giants
1. Hirokazu Sawamura P Chuo Univ R/R 1988.04.03 183/90
2. Ryosuke Miyaguni P Itoman HS R/R 1992.04.17 184/73
3. Taichi Tanaka P Oita Kogyo HS R/R 1993.02.27 179/77
4. Yuki Koyama P Tenri Univ R/R 1988.12.05 187/75
Ikusei
I1. Ryota Wada IF Hiroshima Kogyo HS R/S 1992.07.20 180/71
I2. Keisuke Kishi P SIL Ehime L/L 1987.01.16 180/75
I3. Keita Fukuizumi P KIL Kobe 9 Cruise R/R 1988.09.02 184/85
I4. Takayuki Ogino IF Aichi Kogyo Univ R/L 1988.04.15 176/65
I5. Takao Zaizen IF Eiden Blitz R/L 1986.12.02 176/70
I6. Kosuke Naruse P Asahikawa Jitsugyo HS R/R 1992.08.19 182/78
I7. Hiroto Kawaguchi IF Nishi Tama Club R/R 1985.08.07 168/71
I8. Kenichi Marumo OF Osaka Keizai Univ R/R 1988.08.02 183/78
Swallowsx Yuki Saitoh
x Takahiro Shiomi
1. Tetsuto Yamada IF Riseisha HS R/R 1992.07.16 180/73
2. Yuki Shichijo P Hakuwa Victories R/R 1984.07.10 180/85
3. Akihisa Nishida C Hokusho HS R/R 1992.04.28 178/83
4. Tomoya Matano P Hokusho HS R/R 1992.10.09 187/83
5. Kentaro Kyuko P Nihon Seishi Ishimaki L/L 1986.05.16 182/80
6. Nariaki Kawasaki OF Kumamoto Golden Larks R/R 1986.03.30 181/83
Ikusei
I1. Koki Kitano OF Yokohama Sogakukan HS R/L 1988.04.27 174/69
I2. Keisuke Ueno P SIL Kagawa R/R 1986.03.06 193/90
I3. Takanori Satoh OF Sendai Ikuei HS R/L 1993.01.29 181/78
Carpx Tatsuya Ohishi
1. Yuya Fukui P Waseda Univ R/R 1988.02.08 178/78
2. Kyohei Nakamura P Fuji Univ L/L 1989.03.22 186/74
3. Yuki Iwami P Osaka Gas L/L 1987.01.25 177/77
4. Masaya Kanemaru P Tokai Rika L/L 1987.03.19 187/87
5. Yoshitaka Isomura C Chukyodai Chukyo HS R/R 1992.11.01 178/82
6. Shota Nakazaki P Nichinan Gakuen HS R/R 1992.08.10 186/90
7. Yuki Tsurumoto P SIL Tokushima R/R 1989.06.16 176/76
Ikusei
I1. Kyosuke Yamano P Meiho HS R/R 1992.05.06 180/82
I2. Ryosuke Ikenouchi P Chukyo Gakuin Univ R/R 1988.11.22 175/75
Baystarsx Tatsuya Ohishi
1. Kota Suda P JFE Higashinihon R/R 1986.07.31 175/76
2. Kisho Kagami P Hosei Univ R/R 1988.09.05 186/88
3. Sho Aranami OF Toyota R/L 1986.01.25 178/77
4. Hiroshi Kobayashi P Osaka Gakuin Univ R/R 1989.01.21 180/83
5. Shinji Ohhara P TDK L/L 1985.06.30 174/66
6. Hiroyuki Fukuyama P Osaka Shogyo Univ R/R 1989.03.27 174/70
7. Junya Ohhara IF SIL Kochi R/R 1984.06.26 174/77
8. Kenjiro Tsuruoka C SIL Ehime R/R 1987.07.07 177/77
Ikusei
I1. Ichiro Matsushita C Kansai Gaidai Univ R/R 1988.07.19 172/78
Hawksx Yuki Saitoh
1. Ayatsugu Yamashita C Narashino HS R/L 1992.11.16 180/83
2. Yuki Yanagida P Hiroshima Keizai Univ R/L 1988.10.09 187/89
3. Takaki Minami P Urawa Gakuin HS R/R 1992.10.23 197/85
4. Daichi Hoshino P Okayama Higashi Sho HS R/R 1993.03.13 180/85
5. Masato Sakata P Yusei HS L/L 1993.03.12 174/65
Ikusei
I1. Keisuke Yasuda OF SIL Kochi L/L 1987.10.06 176/75
I2. Daiki Nakahara IF Kagoshima Josai HS R/R 1992.06.06 185/95
I3. Daichiro Itoh P Homare HS R/R 1992.12.29 175/65
I4. Kodai Senga P Gamagori HS R/L 1993.01.30 183/75
I5. Taisei Makihara IF Johoku HS R/L 1992.10.15 173/68
I6. Takuya Kai C Yoshikan HS R/R 1992.11.05 168/74
Lions
1. Tatsuya Ohishi P Waseda Univ R/L 1988.10.10 185/86
2. Kazuhisa Makida P Nihon Express R/S 1984.11.10 178/78
3. Shogo Akiyama OF Hachinohe Univ R/L 1988.04.16 183/83
4. Kyohei Maegawa P Hannandai HS R/R 1992.06.09 187/74
5. Ryo Hayashizaki IF Toyo Univ R/R 1988.06.12 175/75
6. Masato Kumashiro OF Oji Seimei R/R 1989.04.18 175/72
Marinesx Yuki Saitoh
1. Shota Ishimine OF Tokai Univ R/R 1988.05.12 179/78
2. Masaki Minami P Rissho Univ R/R 1989.01.18 182/88
3. Atsushi Kobayashi P 77 Bank R/R 1986.02.24 178/85
4. Shota Koike C Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/R 1988.06.24 183/86
5. Naoya Emura C Osaka Toin HS R/R 1992.05.06 176/83
6. Shuhei Fujiya P U of South California R/R 1987.08.12 190/77
Ikusei
I1. Shota Kurosawa P Josai Kokusai Univ R/R 1988.08.05 181/84
I2. Shogo Yamaguchi P Tachibana Gakuen HS L/L 1992.09.11 176/70
I3. Junya Ishida P NOMO Baseball Club R/R 1984.05.21 179/82
Fighters
1. Yuki Saitoh P Waseda Univ R/R 1988.06.06 175/75
2. Haruki Nishikawa OF Chiben Wakayama HS R/L 1992.04.16 179/73
3. Masahiro Inui P Toyo Univ L/L 1988.12.08 176/74
4. Yodai Enoshita P Kyushu Sangyo Univ R/R 1988.07.21 178/76
5. Yuya Taniguchi OF Aikodai Meiden HS R/L 1992.06.01 182/80
6. Masaru Saitoh P Sega Sammy L/L 1988.01.06 188/86
Buffaloesx Tatsuya Ohishi
x Takahiro Shiomi
x Tetsuto Yamada
1. Shunta Gotoh OF Maebashi Shogyo HS R/L 1993.03.05 180/75
2. Taiki Mitsumata IF Shutoku HS R/R 1992.05.11 177/80
3. Yuki Miyazaki OF Sega Sammy R/R 1986.11.29 177/82
4. Shohei Tsukahara P Tsukuba Shuei R/L 1992.07.08 184/80
5. Masato Fukae OF KIL Akashi Red Soldiers R/L 1987.09.05 177/75
Eaglesx Tatsuya Ohishi
1. Takahiro Shiomi P Hachinohe Univ L/L 1988.09.06 182/77
2. Manabu Mima P Tokyo Gas R/L 1986.09.19 169/74
3. Toshihito Abe IF Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/L 1988.12.23 180/73
4. Aoi Enomoto OF Kyushu Kokusaidai HS L/L 1992.07.24 179/78
5. Koki Kanno OF PL Gakuen R/R 1992.07.12 181/86
Ikusei
I1. Takahiro Katoh P BCL Toyama R/R 1987.12.13 179/78
I2. Kengo Kimura P Sendai Ikuei HS L/L 1992.04.20 179/88
I3. Hayato Kawaguchi IF Shiga-Takashima Club R/L 1985.08.07 171/70
(High school players are denoted by "HS", college players by "Univ". Players from the indie leagues will have either BCL or SIL or KIL before their team name. Anything else is a club team or industrial league team.)
I'm not actually going to be home until around 5:15, which SUCKS. Alas. I bet the Saitoh/Ohishi/Sawamura sweepstakes will be decided by then... I've been on pins and needles all day.
Okay... I watched the first round picks on the train between work and home, on my cellphone TV with no sound on. I don't think anyone else cared, but as team after team picked Ohishi, I was pumping my fist and trying not to laugh out loud! After all, I was a somewhat obsessive Ohishi fan for a year or two before I became an even more obsessive Kagami fan. :)
First round -- SIX TEAMS TAKE OHISHI AND FOUR TAKE SAITOH. So there. I feel like 3 years of watching Ohishi and talking up how awesome he is has finally been justified. (Infact you know what's CRAZY? Today marks three years to the day EXACTLY since the first time I saw Ohishi, at Soukeisen, October 28, 2007. Even at that time I saw him, only a freshman at the time, and said "Why the hell is everyone making such a big deal about Saitoh when THIS kid is on his team? Holy CRAP." What ELSE is insane is that EVERY pitcher from that game is now a pro -- Saitoh, Ohishi, Kenta Matsushita, Mikinori Katoh, and now Kota Suda as well.)
Baystars - Tatsuya Ohishi
Eagles - Ohishi
Carp - Ohishi
Buffaloes - Ohishi
Swallows - Yuki Saitoh
Fighters - Saitoh
Giants - Hirokazu Sawamura
Marines - Saitoh
Tigers - Ohishi
Lions - Ohishi
Dragons - Yudai Ohno
Hawks - Saitoh
The Giants get Sawamura automatically and the Dragons get Yudai Ohno automatically. Nice job there.
The lottery: Seibu's manager Hisanobu Watanabe is easily the luckiest man in the world as he pulled the Kikuchi card last year and the Ohishi card this year!
So Seibu gets Ohishi, and OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH SAITOH AND SHO NAKATA ON THE SAME TEAM as the Fighters get Yuki Saitoh. Holy shit that was unexpected, I never thought we'd actually go in for him.
Settling the first round, backup picks: (The other teams all get to repeat this process and there will be another lottery-off for doubles.)
Baystars - Kota Suda (yay!)
Rakuten - Takahiro Shiomi :)
Carp - Yuya Fukui
Buffaloes - Shota Ishimine!!
Yakult - Takahiro Shiomi :)
Marines - Shota Ishimine!!
Hanshin - Daiki Enokida
Hawks - Ayatsugu Yamashita
Two lotteries this time. Marines get Ishimine (what is this, quota on Okinawans and Shotas?) and Rakuten gets Shiomi. Hey, they're only an hour from Hachinohe by train.
Buffaloes and Yakult BOTH then go for Tetsuto Yamada, for a THIRD lottery. YIKES.
Crap. Yakult gets Yamada. I was hoping he'd go to Orix so that Yakult would take Kagami maybe.
So, to sum up the first round...
Baystars - Kota Suda, JFE Higashinihon, RHP (formerly Waseda)
Eagles - Takahiro Shiomi, Hachinohe Univ, LHP
Carp - Yuya Fukui, Waseda, RHP
Buffaloes - Shunta Gotoh, Maebashi Shogyo HS, OF
Swallows - Tetsuto Yamada, Riseisha, IF
Fighters - Yuki Saitoh, Waseda University, RHP
Giants - Hirokazu Sawamura, Chuo University, RHP
Marines - Shota Ishimine, Tokai University, OF
Tigers - Daiki Enokida, Tokyo Gas, LHP (formerly Fukuoka Univ)
Lions - Tatsuya Ohishi, Waseda University, RHP
Dragons - Yudai Ohno, Bukkyo Univ, LHP
Hawks - Ayatsugu Yamashita, Narashino HS, C
AND KISHO KAGAMI GOES TO YOKOHAMA WITH THE VERY NEXT PICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Second round! YES!!!
I am going to Yokohama ASAP to get a uniform and putting his name and number on it (well, once he has a number). My god, if only I was going to still be in Japan next year, THIS is what it would take for me to get to Baystars games again. Seriously. I'll still have to plan to make it down there for a few games when I come to visit!! And this is even better for Kagami himself, who is from Kanagawa Prefecture and grew up fairly near Yokohama; he played for Zushi Senior little league and then for Toin Gakuen HS, before going to Hosei. And Hosei is ALSO like 15-20 minutes from Yokohama Stadium by train -- so he can even be near his family and friends! How wonderful for him! I'm really happy :)
Okay, the rest of the draft is mostly irrelevant to me now :)
No, just kidding, I'm still following it, though it's off TV until 7pm at this point, so I'm just looking at the web.
OH! SHUTOKU'S TAIKI MITSUMATA GOES TO ORIX IN THE SECOND ROUND TOO!
How cool is that, I specifically stalked him this summer because one of my JHS students is trying to go to Shutoku next year and talked up this Mitsumata kid to me, and then I saw him in person like "...dang, 15 home runs in high school, bats cleanup, AND throws 149 km/h? I'll take that!" They have him listed as a pitcher but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets converted early on.
Hifumi to... Hanshin?!!? Hahaha.
I'm liking the Haruki Nishikawa pick (Fighters) -- I saw him at Koshien and he was easily one of the best pure batters there. And unlike certain other high school dudes we've drafted, I'm betting this one can actually play defense too.
FIGHTERS TOOK MASAHIRO INUI?! Oh dear. Well... I like him, certainly, but I hope that doesn't mean we've used up the karma it'll take to get Takahiro Fujioka instead :) (To be fair -- I knew that the Fighters had their eye on Inui for ages, to the point that there was once an article about tons of teams scouting some other player, maybe Sawamura, and the Fighters scout was quoted as saying "Oh... yeah, he's good, but I dunno, I was sent here to watch Masahiro Inui, sorry.")
Glad to see I was right about outfielder Shogo Akiyama from Hachinohe -- he's going to Seibu.
And Softbank takes a flier on the GIGANTIC (197cm) half-Japanese pitcher Takaki Minami from Urawa Gakuin. Not a bad call, though I seriously thought he'd end up with the Fighters just due to how WE tend to be the ones taking guys like that, he'd make a nice set with Dass and Darvish and Unten.
ARANAMI SHO FINALLY GETS DRAFTED and by his hometown Yokohama at that. GOOD FOR HIM. PLEASE help Yokohama out of the cellar so I can come back to Japan and see my Kagami get some wins. :)
The TV comes back on at 7pm... I'm still catching up on typing in names.
They have KAZUHIRO FREAKING KIYOHARA on the draft TV show though. Which would be interesting if the entire thing wasn't THE YUKI SAITOH SHOW. Sigh.
Ryo Hayashizaki actually gets drafted by the Lions! Wow!
And oh my GOD but Hanshin actually took Meiji's Fumiya Araki!
(Good thing I caught him after the game and got his autograph last week! I've been watching him for years too, wasn't sure whether he'd get picked or not, so good for him :)
Oh, GOOD for Hiroshima for getting Chukyodai's catcher Isomura. He's young but a solid player and I have high hopes for him.
HEY LOOK AT THAT, CHIBA LOTTE TOOK THE FLIER ON SHUHEI FUJIYA FROM USC. That is pretty cool too! I wonder if he'll sign and how he'll do here? I also wonder if he may be the first guy to be drafted in BOTH countries?
7:45pm: I have just entered all of the NAMES of the main draft. Other information will come later tonight. I need to eat something and stop freaking out -- my throat hurts from the several times I screamed when I saw a particular player's name come up :)
Ikusei will come when I get Ikusei data which I haven't yet (EDIT: it's coming along slowly now...).
Also, I know they mean well, but this TV "coverage" is getting retarded -- now they have a dramatization of various players' family histories -- do we really need to watch 15 minutes of a TV drama version of Shogo Akiyama's father dying of cancer and him vowing to become a pro to make his dad happy from heaven?
At least they had a funny part towards the end where they had a conference call between Yoshinori Satoh and his brother Takanori, who also just got drafted by Yakult in the 3rd round of ikusei. Yoshinori's like "You didn't react nearly as surprised as I did in my draft," and Takanori's like "Whatever, hey, you never really played baseball with me before, now can we play together?"
(I exaggerate, but it was kind of awkward in general, these two brothers talking to each other over national TV.)
Speaking of brothers, did you know that the Eagles' ikusei #1 pick, Takahiro Katoh, is Mikinori Katoh's little brother? How cool is THAT? Mikinori is one of my favorite Yakult players, and a LHP, but his brother is an RHP.
Oh, now THIS is happy: Kagami a "Kanagawa Boy" draft pick. Whatever, the photo of him wearing a Baystars cap and sitting on his Hosei teammates' shoulders laughing/crying is wonderful.
And here is a blog entry from Kagami himself on the Hosei blog. In his typical style, he says "Thank you so much for your support over 4 years. I'm so happy to finally realize my childhood dream..." and later "...though there is only one sad thing -- my teammates Kameda and Miyagaki were not drafted." What he means, of course, is that he'll miss all of his teammates at Hosei and wishes he could still play baseball with them... since nobody else actually ENTERED the draft. But that's Kagami, the nicest superstar you'll ever meet in your life. (His shikishi in the final picture says "Hama no Superstar", which is kinda funny, I hope he can live up to that!)