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The story
On the 10th, the Yomiuri Giants paid a courtesy visit to formally greet their first-round draft pick, Yokohama High School pitcher Shoki Oda (18) — but Oda himself wasn’t there, since he’s skipping NPB entirely and is in the middle of meetings with Major League clubs. General manager Yutaka Mizuno reportedly explained the situation and apologized to Yokohama High coach Hiroaki Murata for drafting Oda anyway, and pleaded with him to at least allow contract talks once Oda’s MLB meetings wrap up. On the forum, opinions split over whether new manager Hideki Matsui’s star power means anything to an 18-year-old like Oda, whether there’s a secret deal between the club and Oda’s camp, and how to rate Oda’s actual talent.
Wooing a treasure of Japanese baseball. On the 10th, the Giants made their formal courtesy visit to Shoki Oda (18), the Yokohama High School (Kanagawa) pitcher they picked first overall in the draft.
The right-hander, who tops out at 157 km/h (97.5 mph), has declared he’s skipping NPB to chase an MLB career, and has been in meetings with Major League clubs since the 4th — which is why he wasn’t present.
General manager Yutaka Mizuno (61) explained the team’s reasoning and apologized to the school’s coach, Hiroaki Murata (40), and others for drafting Oda despite his MLB plans, and ‘pleaded directly’ for a shot at contract negotiations once Oda’s major league meetings are finished.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
What about Ikeda, their 3rd-round pick — can't he go to the Giants?
Probably the coach has watched way too many Yokohama High alumni crash and burn in NPB, so he's thinking: get a signing bonus of ¥500 million or more from an MLB club (several million dollars), and pick up some English along the way. Even if the baseball career doesn't pan out, that mega-bonus MLB route probably sets you up better for life afterward — that's likely the conclusion he reached as Yokohama High's coach.
His haters thinned out after he patched things up with Ichiro, didn't they?
If he were from Kansai, everyone would just rally behind the Tigers — there's no Kansai native who hates the Hanshin Tigers
Lotte was on a hot streak with draft luck for a while though, lol
You're comparing him to Nomo, who was already dominating as a pro?
Is this really all Oda's own decision though?
The only real alternative would be an international draft, but that comes with its own problem — it drags prospects into a draft system against their will, and baseball federations in other countries push back hard against it. Puerto Rican baseball, for instance, declined partly because of MLB's influence.
Whether it's NPB or MLB, he's built kind of slight, so the read is he's not quite at the level to contribute right away.
Sure, he throws harder than Matsuzaka, but Matsuzaka completed every single game in the spring tournament, and in the summer tournament pitched four straight games — including a 17-inning extra-innings marathon — then threw a no-hitter in the final. Oda was carefully managed on pitch counts and rest days, and even his 158 km/h (98 mph) reading came in the first inning of a relief outing. Isn't Matsuzaka clearly the better one here?
No doubt he's a terrific player — but a player like that comes along every single year. Turning into a true elite takes a lot more work from here. Same was true for Ohtani, same for Ichiro. It all comes down to how much effective training he puts in before he hits around age 25.
The minors are brutal — way harder on the body than NPB
Background and Key Points of the Debate
Japan’s draft system only grants a club exclusive negotiating rights for one year — it has no power to force a player to sign. Yokohama High coach Murata’s statement that ‘this won’t affect his path’ is rooted in that fact: even though the Giants drafted Oda anyway, if he sticks to his plan to pursue MLB, no contract with the Giants will ever happen. The thread split mainly over two points: first, a generational divide over how much weight new manager Hideki Matsui’s name recognition and star power actually carries with an 18-year-old; and second, how to weigh Oda’s ability — factoring in his limited pitch counts and rest between outings — against past standout high school pitchers like Daisuke Matsuzaka. Some posters suspected a ‘secret deal’ between the club and the MLB side, but it’s worth noting that’s pure speculation from the board, not something confirmed by actual reporting.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geisoku+) thread ‘[Baseball] Giants Name Hideki Matsui Manager — Impact on Shoki Oda? Yokohama High Coach Murata: ‘Oda has made his decision on the US, so it has absolutely no impact on his path’‘.
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