From our other sites
The story
Oda, a high school player reportedly aiming to jump straight to MLB without going through the NPB draft, has sparked a heated back-and-forth on 5ch’s live-discussion board. Supporters pointed to cases like Daisuke Matsuzaka and Masahiro Tanaka, who wrecked their elbows from being overworked in NPB, arguing that “going straight to MLB would be better.” Cautious voices pushed back, saying “NPB is actually the better development environment” and “it’ll be rough without an interpreter.” Rumors flew that his signing bonus could be as much as 700 million yen, but that figure was later corrected — it’s actually the total budget a team sets aside for all non-draft signings, not an amount for Oda alone.
What people said
There have been guys who went to the US straight out of high school before.
Though they couldn't even cut it in Single-A.
Oda's heading to MLB like winning the World Series is already a done deal.
If they'd gone straight to MLB, they could've become legendary pitchers.
Spending your prime years, when your body's in peak shape, in Japan is just such a waste.
Neither Matsuzaka nor Tanaka ("Ma-kun") would've cut it in MLB anyway.
It's got nothing to do with their own lives, though.
Such a spiteful nation, always wanting to trip up people chasing a goal.
Imanaga started the WBC final.
Which means he's above Ohtani.
Apparently the Dodgers are putting up a signing bonus of around 700 million yen, so he's got more money than your average player.
The backlash was honestly bigger than expected, almost unsettling.
That's probably the flip side of teams rating him as a real asset — and not just Giants fans either.
This is an era where every top-tier player ends up in MLB.
Don't take away a young guy's dream just because you're a fan who wants to watch him in NPB.
If he misses his prime before making the move, that's a failure for his whole career.
Didn't Ohtani manage it in five years?
But the moment it succeeds, they flip and start praising it to the skies.
I want to root for Oda's challenge.
I hope he proves all the naysayers wrong.
Guys like you are exactly the ones who'll pile on hardest if he doesn't make it.
Like what kind of program is it where suddenly Hideki Matsui is personally coaching you?
If the Fighters had just drafted Komoda 1st round and Oda 2nd round, everything would've worked out fine.
That's exactly why he should join on the condition that they agree to posting.
There's no basis for that.
Asano ended up in the development-squad draft too.
He hasn't been cut though.
In the minors he'd have been cut by year two.
Re: #56
Then just make them put it in writing.
It's pretty normal these days for prospects to get Tommy John surgery in the minors, so that alone wouldn't get him cut.
And even if he did get cut, he'd still have pocketed 700 million yen just for signing.
Asano's signing bonus was 100 million yen with a 17 million yen salary.
It's questionable whether Asano will even clear 700 million in career earnings.
The 700 million is fake news…
If it really were 700 million, I'd say he should go to MLB,
because he'd probably struggle to cut it even in Japan.
The 700 million yen is the total budget the team has set aside for signing non-draft players overall.
Nobody said all 700 million was going to Oda alone, lol.
Right now it's questionable whether his skill level would even cut it in the minors.
Japan's level has gone way up.
There aren't many minor leaguers who'd come dominate here.
If you could land a signing bonus of around 700 million yen, you'd normally take it.
And even if it doesn't pan out, some team would pick him up if he came back to Japan — not taking the chance is the real loss.
Most baseball fans probably just think it's a waste of a rare talent.
As a development environment for young players, NPB is far better than the American minor leagues.
He's not actually getting 700 million.
Is he just hedging his bets?
Background and key points of this discussion
Going straight to MLB without passing through NPB has few precedents in Japan, and signing players outside the draft system comes with a set budget allocation for bonuses. What collided in the thread was the supportive argument that this lets a player avoid being overworked at a young age, against the cautious argument that language and lifestyle barriers can make or break success. As was noted when the case of Shohei Ohtani’s personal interpreter illegally obtaining signing-bonus money was brought up, the risk of leaning entirely on an interpreter is an easy point to overlook. The “700 million yen” signing-bonus figure is also a textbook case of a number taking on a life of its own: a correction surfaced mid-thread clarifying that this is the total budget a team sets aside for all non-draft signings, not an amount Oda himself would receive in full. As comparisons were also raised with the contract terms of Shogo Asano, it’s worth keeping in mind that financial details about young players often spread widely even when inaccurate.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Japanese people: ‘A cocky kid like Oda who doesn’t know his place won’t cut it in MLB!!!’ ← this, lol“.
Leave a Reply