The 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 27, , for the 47th time at the

Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa The Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa (グランドプリンスホテル高輪) is a complex of three hotels (Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa, Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa, and The Prince Sakura Tower) designed by architect Togo Murano in 1982, and ...

to assign amateur baseball players to the

NPB or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...

. It was arranged with the special cooperation of

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems ...

with official naming rights. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by TOSHIBA ".It has been sponsored by Toshiba for the 3rd consecutive year since 2009.

Summary

Only the first round picks will be done by bid lottery. After the second round, waver selections were made in order from the lowest-ranked team of the 2011 season in both the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently cons ...

and

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

, the third round was reversed and selections were made from the top team, and the fourth round was reversed again, alternating with selections from the lowest-ranked team until all teams had finished selecting players. Since the season, the winner of the NPB All-Star Game has determined whether the Central League or the Pacific League gets waiver preference after the second round. In the 2011 All-Star Game, the Pacific League won two games, so the Pacific League was given waiver priority over the Central League. The

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They ...

publicly announced that they would pick

Tomoyuki Sugano is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Career College career Sugano went to Tokai University, where he had a 37–4 win–loss record and a 0.57 earned run average (ERA). In ...

, the nephew of the Giants' manager

Tatsunori Hara is a Japanese former professional baseball player, and the current manager of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team in Nippon Professional Baseball. Career Hara played for the Giants during his professional baseball career from to . He won the Cen ...

, in the first round, which caused other teams to shun him, and Sugano was expected to be the Giants' lone pick. However, the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters The are a Japanese professional Baseball in Japan, baseball team based in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaidō. They compete in the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball, playing the majority of their home games at ES CON Field Hokkaido. The Figh ...

pushed for the nomination, and as a result of a lottery bidding with the Giants, the Fighters won the right to negotiate. Sugano did not agree to negotiations with the Fighters and did not join the team. When the fighters won the lots, the audience cheered and applauded. The reason for this was the backlash from the fans after the Giants publicly announced the players they wanted to pick in the first round and used it as a way to deter other teams, picking

Hisayoshi Chono Hisayoshi (written: , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese judoka *, Japanese water polo player *, Japanese musician and composer *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese ...

in 2009 and

Hirokazu Sawamura is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played in NPB for the Yomiuri Giants and the Marines, and has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red S ...

in 2010 by themselves. The Sugano pick sparked a debate about the significance of the draft system.

First Round Contested Picks

* Bolded teams indicate who won the right to negotiate contract following a lottery. * In the first round, Yusuke Nomura (Pitcher) was selected by the

Carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

, Hayata Ito (Outfielder) by the

Tigers The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on un ...

, Ken Togame (Pitcher) by the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

, and Shota Takeda (Pitcher) by the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfa ...

without a bid lottery. * In the second round, Yoshitaka Muto (Pitcher) was selected by the Eagles, Ryoichi Adachi (Infielder) by the Buffaloes, and Ryuhei Kawakami (Outfielder) by the Swallows without a bid lottery. * In the thrird round, the last remaining Baystars selected Yujoh Kitagata (Pitcher). * List of selected players.

Selected Players

*The order of the teams is the order of second round waiver priority. * Bolded After that, a

developmental player In Major League Soccer, in addition to the senior roster, each team can carry a developmental roster of a certain number of young players whose contracts do not count against the salary cap. The allowable size of developmental rosters has varied th ...

who contracted as a registered player under control. * List of selected players.

Chiba Lotte Marines

Yokohama Baystars

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Orix Buffaloes

Hanshin Tigers

Saitama Seibu Lions

Yomiuri Giants

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Chunichi Dragons

References

External links

プロ野球ドラフト会議 supported by TOSHIBA
- NPB.jp Nippon Professional Baseball {{Nippon Professional Draft by year Nippon Professional Baseball Draft 2011 Nippon Professional Baseball season 2011 in baseball Baseball in Japan October 2011 sports events in Japan