Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 30, 2008
Free Pitcher

I found this interesting:

Junichi Tazawa, a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher who wants to play in the major leagues, was passed over by Japan's 12 professional teams in Thursday's amateur draft.

Tazawa, whose fastball reaches 97 mph, had asked Japanese teams not to select him so that he could pursue a career in the United States.

"I'm very relieved," Tazawa said. "I was very nervous right up until the end of the draft."

What's in it for the Japanese teams? If someone drafts him, and he turns out to be good, they can post him to the US and reap the rewards. Were the Japanese teams just being nice? Imagine a US high school star asking not to be drafted by major league teams so he could sign with one as a free agent!


Posted by David Pinto at 11:33 AM | International | TrackBack (0)
Comments

The story says: "No rule prevents American teams from pursuing Japanese amateurs, although current stars such as Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners and Daisuke Matsuzaka [stats] of the Red Sox made names for themselves playing in Japan's pro leagues."

I'm not sure if this is true. But if a Japanese team merely drafted this kid but didn't sign him, why would a U.S. team have to give anything to the Japanese club if he signed a U.S. contract? I don't see how the Japanese team would have any rights over an unsigned amateur.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 30, 2008 01:05 PM

That last sentence should read: "I don't see how the Japanese team would have any rights pver an unsigned amateur outside Japan." Drafting the kid would obviously restrict other Japanese teams from signing him.

Posted by: Casey Abell at October 30, 2008 01:07 PM

That makes sense, but then why ask not to be drafted? That seems to imply that the draft obligates the player in some way.

Posted by: David Pinto at October 30, 2008 01:40 PM

I think the teams simply did not want to waste a draft pick on someone they knew would not sign.

Posted by: Josh S at October 30, 2008 02:25 PM

I would think that if he's drafted, even without signing, then his playing in the major leagues is subject to the agreement between MLB and the Japanese League. Undrafted, he's free to seek work elsewhere.

Posted by: marty at October 30, 2008 06:34 PM

What mean in return for allowing Tazawa to go to MLB, NPB will introduce a ban on players coming back to Japan from MLB. They will be banned for 3 years if they were drafted by a high school team and 2 years if they were drafted by a industrial/college team.

Link

Posted by: John Brooks at October 31, 2008 07:53 AM
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