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The story
Yokohama High School pitcher Shoki Oda (18) was selected by the Yomiuri Giants with their first pick in the 2026 draft, but on the 8th (9th Japan time), the U.S. Dodgers-focused outlet “Dodgers Blue” reported that signing Oda is one of the goals the Dodgers should pursue this offseason. Oda has already held meetings with five MLB teams, and the Giants are set to hold their official contract-greeting ceremony with him on the 10th. On 5ch, reactions mixed anticipation with anxiety — some expressed surprise that Oda, as an international amateur free agent, falls outside the scope of the NPB draft, while others brought up the harshness of minor-league life, the language barrier, and past examples of players who struggled abroad and came back to NPB.
[Dodgers] Shoki Oda Now the Top Candidate for a Dodgers Deal — Minor-League Contract Would Be “Convenient,” Says U.S. Report
On the 8th (9th Japan time), Dodgers-focused outlet “Dodgers Blue” named signing Yokohama High pitcher Shoki Oda (18) — the Giants’ first-round draft pick — as one of the goals the Dodgers should accomplish this offseason.
Oda has already finished meetings with five MLB teams, and it’s been announced that the Giants will hold their official greeting ceremony with him on the 10th.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Can Japanese people just stop following whoever's trendy already?
Really shows our herd mentality as a nation.
The guys like that at my high school had the worst grades, but this kid's apparently fluent.
At 18, if he goes to a local community college over there, six months is enough to get by in daily life.
This guy's going into the minors, so he'll pick it up fluently in that same kind of environment.
Same as Nishida — under 20 and the pronunciation really does come out cleaner.
He's a rookie, so it's just a matter of whether he joins whoever picks him, right?
Why's 'Dodgers most likely' even a thing?
Right now, players competing outside the US aren't subject to the MLB draft.
Rikuto Nishida of the Chicago [team] got drafted because he was enrolled at a U.S. college.
MLB apparently wants to eventually set up something called an 'international draft' limited to foreign players competing abroad, but whether the players' union agreement will allow that is another question.
He falls under international amateur free agent signing rules, so no draft is needed.
Well, with guys like Ohtani already there as a senior, isn't it basically mutual love between Oda and the Dodgers too?
> He has declared his intent to go to the US as an 'international amateur free agent' aiming to sign directly with an MLB team without going through NPB,
> and is therefore exempt from the US draft (the Rule 4 draft).
but if they burned a first-round pick with no deal at all, that's just hilarious.
Well, that's just how it goes.
The Giants want him while he's young,
but a guy who comes back after failing to make it abroad probably gets treated badly.
The Tetsuya Yamaguchi route, huh?
whether that's the right call is another story lol
Just do one of those cheap storefront English-conversation courses.
Japan's own 'Virat Kohli' title passes from Ohtani to Oda too.
so for Oda it'll take at least 5-6 years minimum.
At that point it's basically no different from going through NPB first.
Get doted on by Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki.
Do those guys even interact with the minor leaguers though?
Being young is a real advantage.
There's no way he'd give up after just one year.
In NPB, about 70% of drafted players make it to the top team before they retire.
In MLB, apparently only 9% of players ever make it to the majors.
Going by this article, it's convenient for the Dodgers but bad news for Oda, isn't it?
He surely knows full well he's choosing the route of clawing up from the bottom of the minors.
There's obviously no guarantee of reaching the majors.
It's just a hypothetical, but the Giants would never go along with that.
Well, they'd probably just say they'll allow it to get him to sign, wouldn't they?
Go for the majors during that time if he wants, and if it really doesn't work out, aim for NPB instead. Either way's fine.
That's where Rintaro Sasaki is smart about it —
even if he doesn't make it in the majors, a Stanford degree massively widens his future options.
He already understands at this young age that there are things money can't buy.
Whether he succeeds or fails, it'll be a reference point for the high schoolers who come after him.
He needs to have a plan for what happens if it doesn't work out, too.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
The focus here is that Oda is treated as an “international amateur free agent,” meaning he can sign directly with an MLB team without going through the NPB draft. The unusual situation — a US team’s interest surfacing right after the Giants took him with their first-round pick — is what drew attention. Some comments took a sober look at the risk of the challenge, citing figures suggesting roughly 70% of NPB draftees make it to the top team, while less than 10% of players in MLB ever stick in the majors. It’s worth noting that speculation about a “secret arrangement with the Giants” is not backed up anywhere in the reporting — it remains pure conjecture from the forum.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Geisoku Sokuho+) thread “[Baseball] Shoki Oda Now Favorite for Dodgers Move — Minor-League Deal “Convenient,” Says U.S. Report, Despite Giants’ First-Round Pick.”
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