The 2019 NPB Draft is this week as the offseason for the Saitama Seibu Lions began quickly after being eliminated in the Climax Series. This year, it takes place on October 17 at 16:50 JT.
As a reminder, the first round is a free for all where everyone selects who they want and if anyone wants the same player, they draw for his rights with a winning ticket out of a box. Teams that miss on their player will go again until all 12 teams have their first round selection. The record for most teams wanting one player is eight.
You can see the first round of the most recent draft here:
For the record, the representative for each team is chosen at the team's discretion. Sometimes it's the manager, other times it could be an executive, GM equivalent or even a scout.
Here is how the draft order will look in the second round, while the odd rounds will be this list in reverse:
1. Tokyo Yakult Swallows (Central League, 6th place)
2. Orix Buffaloes (Pacific League, 6th place)
3. Chunichi Dragons (CL, 5th)
4. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (PL, 5th)
5. Hiroshima Carp (CL, 4th)
6. Chiba Lotte Marines (PL, 4th)
7. Hanshin Tigers (CL, 3rd)
8. Tohoku Rakuten Eagles (PL, 3rd)
9. Yokohama DeNA Baystars (CL, 2nd)
10. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks (PL, 2nd)
11. Yomiuri Giants (CL, 1st)
12. Saitama Seibu Lions (PL, 1st)
The Lions will draft back-to-back for the second and third rounds and more after the first round.===
Looking ahead, any draft is more for long term needs. Here's a look at each position:
Pitcher:
Pitcher is the most obvious need for both the short and long term. This year is very pitcher-heavy with several candidates to help immediately, but three main pitchers are the talk of the first round. Roki Sasaki (Ofunato HS) has all the hype where even MLB teams were scouting him to try and pry his talents to North America. His velocity can hit 100 mph on the gun, but he made himself eligible for the draft and said he is fine with going to all 12 teams.
Ofunato HS did not make the Summer Koshien tournament, so as a result, Yasunobu Okugawa (Seriyo HS) was able to take advantage of the spotlight and up his stock as a guaranteed first round draft pick. He carried his team to the finals before losing to Riseisha HS.
Masato Morishita (Meiji) is the consensus best college pitcher available who can likely play sooner than later at the ichi-gun.
EDIT: The Seibu Lions announced Roki Sasaki will be their pick.
Other candidates the Lions could go for if they whiff on their first round drawing are Masaki Oyokawa (Yokohama HS), Ryosei Kawano (JFE West), Hiroki Inoue (Nichidaisan HS), Kazuaki Tateno (Tokai Rika University) and Daiki Yoshida (Nittai Univesity).
Several later options are also available including Yuki Tsumori (Tohoku Fukushi University), Hiroaki Matsuda (Nagoya University), Shinri Komine (Kagoshima Joseiko HS) and Shogo Tamamura (Fukui Shinritsu HS).
With the Lions having pitcher holes, expect several pitchers to be taken in the main draft with even more names unlisted.
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Catcher:
The Lions had an injury to Masatoshi Okada, but they drafted enough depth catchers with Daichi Nakaguma, Masato Saito and Shoya Makino all being later draft picks in the last two years. Expect no catchers taken except in the late rounds or ikusei.
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Infielder:
The Lions may feel Ryusei Sato will be the future 3B while Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura can be a DH for the rest of his career. SS, 2B and 1B are all locked up for the next few years. That being said, a high school infielder can always be an intriguing long term solution. SS Keito Mori (Toin Gakuen HS) and Kohei Wada (Saitama Sakae HS) are both names the Lions have looked at. Others can play multiple positions on the infield and are listed as outfielders.
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Outfield:
Shogo Akiyama is likely to take a opportunity in MLB which leaves a void in centerfield for the first time in awhile. The Lions are rumored to acquire Shuhei Fukuda from the Softbank Hawks, but nothing is official. K. Mori and Yuya Gunji (Keio University) are players the Lions have looked at with the latter also a catcher. Koki Ugasa (Hosei University), Akito Takabe (Kokushikan University) and Riku Kaneko (Hakuoh University) are also college outfielders the Lions have looked at.
Another multiple position option is Tatsuru Yanagimachi (Keio University), who is capable of playing 3B too. By looking at this list, the Lions have thought ahead in wanting a player who can be plugged in immediately.
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Outlook:
The Lions have put their name in the box for Roki Sasaki with an official announcement from the team. Their last time going to a drawing was 2017 when they lost to Orix in an attempt to have Daiki Tajima. Before that, their last drawing was in 2012 for Nao Higashihama.
Presumably, Hatsuhiko Tsuji will be the representative to take the draw, but it's all just a formality with the Lions being last and having zero control over taking a winning ticket in the box or not. Tsuji will be standing there taking the final ticket available.
If the Lions ended up with any of the top three pitchers, it would be awesome. What has stood out is how the Lions are expected to expand their roster with a san-gun, which is taking extra ikusei players in the ikusei draft. The Softbank Hawks and Yomiuri Giants do this and have found several diamonds in the rough by taking this approach.
Fasten your seatbelts everyone, this draft is always interesting.
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