Shoki Oda, an 18-year-old Japanese pitcher who says he wants to skip Japanese baseball and enter the MLB international amateur draft, met with the Mets, Phillies and Rangers so far this week, according to Yakyu Cosmopolitan, which covers Japanese baseball. The Dodgers, however, are considered the favorite to sign him.
At least a dozen MLB teams are reportedly interested in Oda, who was drafted in the first round by the Yomiuri Giants.
“I want to play in the No. 1 (league) in the world,” he told reporters, per the New York Post. “I want to be No. 1 in the world.”
Industry insiders believe the right-hander wants to be a Dodger, per the Post. Oda’s favorite player is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and the Dodgers are the only team he follows on Instagram.
He would be the first high-level prospect to skip playing in Nippon Professional Baseball to sign with an MLB organization as an amateur. Some prospects have skipped NPB to play college baseball in the United States. Shohei Ohtani nearly signed with the Dodgers out of high school, but was lured by the Nippon-Ham Fighters’ offer to make him a two-way player.
Scouts expect Oda would earn a $3 million to $5 million signing bonus with an MLB team. The Yomiuri Giants could only offer roughly $640,000 under NPB rules. He would then have to accumulate nine years of service time before being eligible to be posted and move to MLB. The Giants may be hoping that the impending lockout complicates Oda’s decision.
Oda threw a 97 mph fastball that was the fastest ever recorded at Japan’s national high school tournament. He has drawn comparisons to Roki Sasaki and pitched for Yokohama High School, which developed Daisuke Matsuzaka.
The Mets, Tigers and Blue Jays were among the teams that scouted Oda at the U18 Asian Baseball Championship, per reporter Francys Romero. The Yankees will also meet with Oda soon, per Romero.
