The 2015 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 22, , for the 51st time at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. with official naming rights. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D".
Summary This was the third year in a row that Taisho Pharmaceuticals had been a partner for the NPB draft and as such one of their most prominent products "Lipovitan D" was used in the official name becoming "Professional Baseball Draft meeting supported by Lipovitan D."
Only the first round picks were allowed to be contested with all picks from the second round onward being based on table placing in the 2015 NPB season in a waiver system. Waiver priority was changed from All-Star game results to inter-league results. As the Pacific League teams came out on top with 61 wins, 44 losses and 3 draws against Central League opposition, Pacific League teams were given preference. From the third round the order was reversed continuing in the same fashion until all picks were exhausted.
For the first time since 1974, the Yomiuri Giants were without a manager present at the draft. In the previous instance, that year's manager Tetsuharu Kawakami was to be replaced by Shigeo Nagashima who was absent due to his participation in the MLB Japan All-Star Series having still been an active player.
88 new players were signed at the draft with a further 28 development player contracts decided on.
Lottery Mistake
In the competition for the signature of Meiji University's Shun Takayama between Tokyo Yakult Swallows and the Hanshin Tigers there was an error leading to some trouble at the meeting.
At the lottery, both team managers Tomoaki Kanemoto and Mitsuru Manaka both pulled their tickets and it was Manaka who pulled his ticket first mistaking the draft logo for the "winning" stamp, raising his fist in a victory pose. Kanemoto, after seeing the Swallows manager's delight, felt that he had lost and went back to his seat without checking his ticket.
After checking the "winning" ticket, NPB officials realized immediately that there had been a mistake but before other officials could check the Hanshin ticket, an interview with Manaka had already started. In regards to this, NPB secretary general Atsuhi Iihara later apologized "we should have stopped the interview but we couldn't. It was a clumsy piece of work." After it was confirmed that Hanshin had indeed won the rights to negotiate, Kanemoto laughingly remarked "it was like a home run that had been taken away by video replay."
In the aftermath, Takayama made comment that "it was a meeting where you didn't now what was going to happen, I certainly didn't, but I'm very appreciative to have been selected in the first round of picks." The mistaken Manaka, commented "please return my celebration." As a result of the systems trouble, the draft was delayed by 10 minutes.
First Round Contested Picks Player namePositionTeams selected byFirst RoundJumpei TakahashiPitcherDragons, Fighters, HawksFirst RoundTaiga HirasawaInfielderEagles, MarinesFirst RoundShun TakayamaOutfielderTigers, SwallowsSecond RoundShinnosuke OgasawaraPitcherDragons, Fighters
Bolded teams indicate who won the right to negotiate contract following a lottery. In the first round, Taiga Hirasawa (Infielder) was selected by the Marines, Shota Imanaga (Pitcher) by the BayStars, Shinsaburo Tawata (Pitcher) by the Lions, Akitake Okada (Pitcher) by the Carp, and Toshiki Sakurai (Pitcher) by the Giants without a bid lottery. In the second round, Louis Okoye (Outfielder) was selected by the Eagles without a bid lottery. In the thrird round, the last remaining the Fighters, selected Kenta Uehara (Pitcher). List of selected players.
Selected Players +Key*Player did not sign
The order of the teams is the order of second round waiver priority. Bolded After that, a developmental player who contracted as a registered player under control. List of selected players.
Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Louis OkoyeOutfielderKanto Daiichi High School#2Ryota YoshimochiInfielderOsaka University of Commerce#3Eigoro MogiInfielderWaseda University#4Kengo HoriuchiCatcherShizuoka Senior High School#5Ryota IshibashiPitcherHonda#6Yuichi AdachiCatcherPanasonic#7Itsuki MurabayashiInfielderOtsuka Senior High SchoolDevelopmental Player Draft#1Takumi DeguchiInfielderTsuda Gakuen High School#2Hiroki YamadaInfielderKomono High School
Yokohama DeNA BayStars PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Shota ImanagaPitcherKomazawa University#2Kento KumabaraPitcherSendai University#3Tatsuhiro ShibataInfielderKokugakuin University#4Yasutaka TobashiraCatcherNTT West Japan#5Kakeru AyabePitcherKasumigaura High School#6Koki AoyagiOutfielderOsaka Toin High School#7Takuto NogawaPitcherSaginomiya SeisakushoDevelopmental Player Draft#1Keisho AmiyaCatcherChiba Eiwa High School#2Musashi YamamotoInfielderKyushu International University Senior High School#3Joh TamuraPitcherKwansei Gakuin University
Orix Buffaloes PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Masataka YoshidaOutfielderAoyama Gakuin University#2Taisuke KondohPitcherPanasonic#3Koji OhshiroInfielderRikkyo University#4Daiki AoyamaPitcherToyota Motors#5Ryo YoshidaPitcherTokai Sagami High School#6Sena SatoPitcherSendai Ikuei High School#7Kohei SuzukiInfielderMitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagoya#8Ryuta KadoyaPitcherJ-Project Corp#9Ken AkamaPitcherSaginomiya Seisakusho#10Yutaro SugimotoOutfielderJR EastDevelopmental Player Draft#1Takayuki TsukadaPitcherHakuoh University#2Kosuke AkamatsuCatcherKagawa Olive Guyners
Chunichi Dragons PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Shinnosuke OgasawaraPitcherTokai Sagami High School#2Yu SatohPitcherTohoku Fukushi University#3Takuya KinoshitaCatcherToyota Motors#4Hiroto FukuPitcherJR Kyushu#5Toshiki AbeInfielderHonda#6Ryota IshiokaInfielderJR EastDevelopmental Player Draft#1Seiya NakagawaPitcherAichi University#2Shu YoshidaPitcherTokushima Indigo Socks#3Takuya MitsumaPitcherMusashi Heat Bears#4Mikihiro NishihamaPitcherSeijoh University#5Kaito GoyaPitcherHachinohe Gakuin Kosei High School#6Masaru WatanabeOutfielderTokai University
Saitama Seibu Lions PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Shinsaburo TawataPitcherFuji University#2Seiji KawagoePitcherHokkai Gakuen University#3Shogo NodaPitcherSeino Transportation#4Aito OhtakiOutfielderHanasaki Tokuharu High School#5Tadasuke MinamikawaPitcherJR Shikoku#6Keisuke HondaPitcherTohoku Gakuin University#7Nien Ting WuInfielderDaiichi Institute of Technology#8Tsubasa KokubaPitcherDaiichi Institute of Technology#9Koki FujitaPitcherHirosaki Technical High School #10Naoaki MatsumotoPitcherKagawa Olive Guyners
Hiroshima Toyo Carp PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Akitake OkadaPitcherOsaka University of Commerce#2Hiroki YokoyamaPitcherNTT East Japan#3Mikiya TakahashiPitcherHanamaki East High School#4Ryota FunakoshiCatcherOji Paper Company#5Ryoma NishikawaInfielderOji Paper Company#6Oscar NakaoshiPitcherHonda#7Riku AokiInfielderYamagata Chuo High School
Chiba Lotte Marines PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Taiga HirasawaInfielderSendai Ikuei High School#2Ryota SekiyaPitcherJR East#3Kakeru NaritaPitcherAkita Commerce & Business High School#4Taiki TojoPitcherJR East#5Shu HaraPitcherSenshu University Matsudo Senior High School#6Akifumi ShigarakiPitcherMiyazaki Umeda Gakuen#7Keisuke TakanoPitcherJR WestDevelopmental Player Draft#1Takamasa OhkiInfielderKagawa Olive Guyners#2Tomoya KakinumaCatcherNihon University College of International Relations
Hanshin Tigers PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Shun TakayamaOutfielderMeiji University#2Seishiro SakamotoCatcherMeiji University#3Daichi TakeyasuPitcherKumamoto Golden Larks#4Atsushi MochizukiPitcherYokohama So-Gakukan High School#5Koyo AoyagiPitcherTeikyo University#6Yutaro ItayamaOutfielderAsia University
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Kenta UeharaPitcherMeiji University#2Takayuki KatohPitcherShin Nittetsu Sumikin Kazusa Magic#3Kazutomo IguchiPitcherTokyo Nogyo University Hokkaido Okhotsk#4Shota HiranumaInfielderTsuruga Kehi High School#5Toyoki TanakaPitcherNippon Bunri University#6Toshitaki YokooInfielderKeio University#7Yuki YoshidaPitcherTokai University#8Yuya HimenoOutfielderOsaka Kaisei High School
Yomiuri Giants PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Toshiki SakuraiPitcherRitsumeikan University#2Shinnosuke ShigenobuOutfielderWaseda University#3Hirotaka YonaharaPitcherFutenma High School#4Shingo UsamiCatcherJosai International University#5Yasuhiro YamamotoInfielderKeio University#6Daisuke TatsumaPitcherIwakura High School#7Kota NakagawaPitcherTokai University#8Takuya MatsuzakiInfielderNippon Paper GroupDevelopmental Player Draft#1Daiki MasudaInfielderTokushima Indigo Socks#2Daisei KobayashiCatcherMusashi Heat Bears#3Yusuke MatsuzawaOutfielderKagawa Olive Guyners#4Kosei TajimaInfielderMusashi Heat Bears#5Hideyoshi OhtakePitcherMusashi Heat Bears#6Atsuro HashimotoPitcherChinzei High School#7Yohei YajimaPitcherMusashi Heat Bears#8Jun HasegawaPitcherIshikawa Million Stars
Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Jumpei TakahashiPitcherGifu Commercial and Business High School#2Reiji KozawaPitcherNihon University Mishima Senior High School#3Kenta TanigawaraCatcherToyohashi Chuo High School#4Kenta ChataniPitcherTeikyo Daisan High School#5Kenta KuroseInfielderHatsushiba Hashimoto Senior High School#6Hikaru KawaseInfielderOita Commercial and Business High SchoolDevelopmental Player Draft#1Yuto NozawaPitcherTsukuba Shuei High School#2Ryuya KodamaPitcherKanagawa University#3Yuichi HigoshiCatcherTokyo Nogyo University Hokkaido Okhotsk#4Shin NakamuraPitcherLuther High School#5Takeshi WatanabePitcherIizuka High School
Tokyo Yakult Swallows PickPlayer namePositionTeam#1Juri HaraPitcherToyo University#2Taishi HirookaInfielderChiben Gakuen High School#3Keiji TakahashiPitcherRyukoku University Heian High School#4Julius HigumaPitcherKochi Chuo High School#5Kotaro YamasakiOutfielderNihon University#6Daiki WatanabeInfielderSenshu University Matsudo High School
References
External links プロ野球ドラフト会議 supported by リポビタンD - NPB.jp Nippon Professional Baseball