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The story
It’s been learned that Yokohama High School pitcher Oda Shoki will begin meeting with more than 10 MLB teams starting November 4. Yokohama manager Murata Hiroaki commented, “He’ll make his decision about America, and the meetings will proceed from there,” effectively confirming Oda’s own ambition to go pro in the majors. Meanwhile, the Giants had already taken the unusual step of drafting Oda with their first-round pick despite his known MLB leanings — a so-called “forced pick.” On the thread, some argued the Giants’ pick could ultimately go to waste, while others insisted the team should at least hear Oda out first. The discussion expanded into MLB’s age-based salary cap rules and past examples of Japanese high schoolers who tried to make it straight to the majors.
Sports Hochi
Yokohama’s Oda Shoki to meet with 10+ MLB teams, starting on the 4th… Yokohama manager Murata Hiroaki reveals it — Giants made a forced first-round pick
November 2, 2026, 2:41 PM
Source: hochi.news / Original article here
What people said
That's honestly plausible, no?
I'd call it 50/50.
If it were Abe, I'd put it at more like 5% though.
Then it's a 2-billion-yen under-the-table deal!
Not once has he gotten a proper response,
and yet he won't go away,
just keeps throwing his weight around,
pathetic hysterics from a total nobody.
Nah, not THAT amazing — he's given up a right-field-stand home run at Koshien to a fellow high schooler even with the low-restitution bats in play.
It'll come down to how much he develops once he's over there. Even in Japan he'd need seasoning; he's not really an "instant-impact" type of pitcher.
For the Dodgers, retaining Skubal is miles ahead of this kid as priority number one.
Second priority is signing Delacruz.
Suzuki Seiya's maybe priority number three lol
Look at Puerto Rico's league —
once their players started getting scooped up by the American draft,
the whole thing collapsed.
There's no way the Giants can offer 700-800 million yen.
Still, this basically drags the Nagashima-Matsui lineage through the mud,
so it's not like everyone's cheering a Japanese player heading to the majors either.
What's the Giants even trying to accomplish, cornering a young guy like this?
They paid Abe 1 billion yen and Nomaguchi 700 million back in the day, though.
Even the cash-strapped BayStars managed to pay Nasuno 600 million back then, so the Giants can easily afford it lol
It's the bonus cap that's the real problem.
And you think the Giants would actually develop him properly?
if you can't dominate in Japan, there's no way you're clawing your way up through the minors.
You never know until you actually try it.
Re: #61
That's probably why they're stacking the signing bonus extra high, no?
Overseas signings got capped across the board because the Braves were gaming the system.
It's not the Giants, it's NPB as a whole that's losing its pull.
Might be futile, but SoftBank and the Giants are the only two even trying to fight that trend.
Hope he doesn't accidentally sign with them by mistake lol
Even after the meetings, he can't sign with anyone until international free agency opens on January 15 next year.
But starting in December there's a lockout, so they can't even call him.
Even the two-way guy who tried it vanished without a trace afterward.
Morii's hitting .220 with 3 homers and an ERA of 15, after all.
It's a world where even the Padres' Miller can get bounced from the rotation, after all.
That route costs money too, though,
and there's no time left for it now.
Rintaro had already started prepping for college in the US by this point in the process.
That's just how the system works — even if you want the majors, you still have to file the pro-intent form.
Ohtani was also fully set on the majors, but after actually listening he ended up compromising — maybe the Giants will offer Oda good enough terms too.
Make it a condition that he gets posted after 3 years no matter his stats.
He can't even dominate college hitters, so that'll cut down on his suffering in the minors.
They'll cave because they don't want "the first-round pick we made for Matsui's sake got away" going down in history as an embarrassment lol
If it were really about Matsui, they'd have drafted a ready-made hitter instead.
I don't think Mizuno's lying when he says they simply drafted Oda because he's an amazing talent.
"I have a contingency plan" sounds more like something Shinjo would say lol
If there were an official way to declare "I want the majors but not NPB,"
no team would dare force-draft someone who's clearly majors-bound.
Two years ago, Morii, also from Kanagawa, did exactly that —
after filing his pro-intent form, he sent formal written notice to all 12 teams individually
saying he wouldn't sign even as a first-round pick, then went to the US.
Go that far and no team will touch you.
Background and key points of this debate
A “forced first-round pick” is the practice of a team drafting a player to lock up negotiating rights even when he’s openly leaning toward MLB — the player still retains the right to refuse to sign despite being drafted. The “international free agency opening (January 15)” mentioned in the thread is the date when amateur players can officially sign with an MLB team; before that, only meetings are allowed and no contract can be signed, and starting in December a lockout restricts even contact. Another point worth noting is the salary cap rule that applies to players under 25 (the so-called “slave rule” that Shohei Ohtani also went through) — right after joining the majors, both the signing bonus and salary can end up lower than what a top Japanese player would earn at home. On the thread, opinions split between criticism that “the Giants’ pick will end up wasted” and the view that “they should at least hear him out once,” with commenters also citing the case of a past high schooler who struggled after jumping straight to MLB (Morii) as grounds to doubt the chances of success.
※This article is an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Geinou Supo Sokuhou+) thread “Yokohama’s Oda Shoki to meet with 10+ MLB teams starting on the 4th… Yokohama manager Murata: “He’ll make his decision about America, and the meetings will proceed from there” — Giants made a forced first-round pick.”
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