2025 Nippon Professional Baseball draft

2025 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft
Masahiro Tateishi, who was nominated by three different teams in the first round bid lottery.
General information
SportBaseball
DateOctober 23, 2025
LocationGrand Prince Hotel Takanawa, Tokyo
NetworksTBS (first round), sky-A
Sponsored byTaisho Pharmaceutical
Overview
116 total selections in 15 (Includes draft for developmental players) rounds
LeagueNippon Professional Baseball
First round selectionsMasahiro Tateishi
(Nominated by 3 teams.), Genki Ishigaki, Rintaro Sasaki
(Nominated by 2 teams.), Ren Hirakawa
(Nominated by 2 teams in re-draft.)

The 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Draft was held on October 23, 2025, for the 61st time at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB.[1] It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutical with official naming rights. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D ".[1] It has been sponsored by Taisho Pharmaceutical for the 13th consecutive year since 2013.[1]

Format

The first round of the draft is conducted via a bid lottery, where every team submits bids for players they'd like to draft. Players who receive multiple nominations result in a drawing of the lots between the nominating teams. The losing teams of the lottery resubmit selections until they get a player without any nominations. Starting from the second round, teams will select in reverse order of the standings, alternating between Central League and Pacific League teams. This year, the Central League will have priority.[2] From the third round the order was reversed continuing in the same fashion until all picks were exhausted.[3] The draft ends when all teams are "selected" or when the total number of selected players reaches 120.[3]

On August 29, 2025, NPB Commissioner Katsuhiko Nakamura announced that players eligible for the upcoming 2026 Major League Baseball draft draft were also eligible for the 2025 NPB draft. Most notably, this includes Rintaro Sasaki, who opted to play college baseball at Stanford instead of entering the NPB draft. Nakamura commented that "we have also confirmed with MLB. He will be eligible for our (draft), and if MLB selects him the following year, it will be possible to negotiate with either side. We have confirmed this. We have answered inquiries from each team. There was a question at the executive committee meeting in July, so we have provided an explanation to all 12 teams."[4]

First Round

Player name Position Teams selected by
First Nomination Masahiro Tateishi INF Carp, Fighters, Tigers
First Nomination Genki Ishigaki RHP Buffaloes, Marines
First Nomination Rintaro Sasaki INF BayStars, Hawks
First Nomination Sōta Fujiwara RHP Eagles
First Nomination Taiga Kojima C Lions
First Nomination Ayuto Matsushita INF Swallows
First Nomination Masaki Nakanishi RHP Dragons
First Nomination Kazuyuki Takemaru LHP Giants
Second Nomination Ren Hirakawa OF Carp, Fighters
Second Nomination Atsuya Fujikawa RHP Buffaloes
Second Nomination Koichiro Oda INF BayStars
Third Nomination Jay Ohkawa RHP Fighters
  • Bolded teams indicate who won the right to negotiate a contract following a lottery.

List of selected players.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Selected Players

Key
* Player did not sign

Chiba Lotte Marines

Pick Player name Position Team
1 Genki Ishigaki RHP Takasaki University of Health and Welfare Takasaki High School
2 Kaito Mouri LHP Meiji University
3 Raito Okumura LHP Yokohama High School
4 Yūya Sakurai INF Shohei High School
5 Hayato Fuji RHP Nippon Express Baseball Club
6 Ryōju Okamura C Tomishima High School
7 Yamato Tanaka RHP Honda Suzuka Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Yuto Nakayama RHP Mito Keimei High School
2 Kaishu Takahashi RHP Tokushima Indigo Socks
3 Ryo Sugiyama OF Aichi Gakuin University

Chunichi Dragons

Round Player name Position Team
1 Masaki Nakanishi RHP Aoyama Gakuin University
2 Yoshinori Sakurai RHP Tohoku Fukushi University
3 Kunitada Shinozaki RHP Tokushima Indigo Socks
4 Kiramu Noto OF Meishu Gakuen Hitachi High School
5 Mao Shimpo INF Tohoku Fukushi University
6 Asahi Hanada OF Toyo University
Developmental Player Draft
1 Kenshin Makino LHP Niigata Albirex Baseball Club
2 Taiga Ishikawa INF Kakegawa Nishi High School
3 Aisuke Mikami OF Ehime Mandarin Pirates

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Round Player name Position Team
1 Rintaro Sasaki INF Stanford
2 Ryūta Inagawa RHP Kyushu Kyoritsu University
3 Gōta Suzuki RHP Osaka University of Commerce
4 Masato Sagara RHP Gifu Kyoritsu University
5 Takanori Takahashi INF JR East Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Kanta Ikeda C Sekine Gakuen High School
2 Ayumu Ezaki INF Fukui University of Technology Affiliated Fukui High School
3 Ryusei Ohya RHP Chukyo University
4 Reo Ohashi INF OISCA Hamamatsu International High School
5 Takahiro Suzuki OF CLUB REBASE
6 Renta Nagasaki RHP Shiga Gakuen High School
7 Emil Serrano Prenza OF Happy Science Academy High School
8 Hokuto Ohyama RHP Chuo University Semi-Hardball Baseball Club

Hanshin Tigers

Round Player name Position Team
1 Masahiro Tateishi INF Soka University
2 Shogo Tanihata INF Nihon University
3 Kaisei Okashiro OF University of Tsukuba
4 Saku Hayase RHP Kamimura Gakuen High School
5 Shuto Noto RHP Niigata Albirex Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Ryōsuke Jingu RHP Tokyo University of Agriculture, Hokkaido-Okhotsk
2 Shōei Yamasaki OF Hyogo Bravers

Hiroshima Toyo Carp

Round Player name Position Team
1 Ren Hirakawa OF Sendai University
2 Taichi Saito RHP Asia University
3 Naru Katsuda INF Kindai University
4 Taiki Kudoh RHP Hokkai Gakuen University
5 Seiya Akagi RHP Bukkyo University
6 Atsumi Nishikawa INF Kamimura Gakuen Iga High School
7 Hayato Takagi RHP Chukyo University
Developmental Player Draft
1 Yuta Kobayashi C Josai University
2 Daiki Kishimoto INF Tokushima Indigo Socks

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Round Player name Position Team
1 Jay Ohkawa RHP Meiji University
2 Kane Edokpolo OF Osaka Gakuin University
3 Ruan Ohtsuka INF Tokai University
4 Minato Handa INF Nihon University Fujisawa High School
5 Kaito Fujimori C Meitoku Gijuku High School
Developmental Player Draft
1 Hiroki Tsuneya INF Hokkai Gakuen University
2 Towa Yokoyama LHP Aomori Chuo Gakuin University

Orix Buffaloes

Round Player name Position Team
1 Atsuya Fujikawa RHP Nobeoka Gauken High School
2 Haruki Mori RHP Osaka Tōin High School
3 Ryūga Satoh LHP Takasaki University of Health and Welfare Takasaki High School
4 Yosuke Kubota OF Sapporo Nihon University High School
5 Shū Takaya RHP Hokkai Gakuen University
6 Kenny Ishikawa LHP/OF Georgia
7 Shikira Nogami C Meishu Gakuen Hitachi High School
Developmental Player Draft
1 Haruto Mikata OF Tochigi Golden Braves
2 Matthew Ichiro Shapiro RHP Toyama GRN Thunderbirds
3 Souta Nakanishi INF Nissei High School
4 Issei Watanabe LHP Sendai University

Saitama Seibu Lions

Round Player name Position Team
1 Taiga Kojima C Meiji University
2 Hakua Iwaki LHP Chuo University
3 Shun Akiyama OF Chukyo University
4 Keita Horikoshi RHP Tohoku Fukushi University
5 Sōwa Yokota INF Yamamura Gauken High School
6 Yūshin Kawada OF Shikoku Bank Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Yuito Arai INF Hachioji Academy
2 Takumu Imaoka INF Kamimura Gakuen High School
3 Keishin Sato RHP Tokushima Indigo Socks
4 Sohta Hamaoka LHP Kawawa High School
5 Hiroto Hiraguchi LHP Japan University of Economics
6 Yuma Masaki RHP Sophia University
7 Ginto Ando OF Tokushima Indigo Socks

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Round Player name Position Team
1 Sōta Fujiwara RHP Hanazono University
2 Tasuke Itoh RHP Waseda University
3 Akira Shigenaga INF Chuo University
4 Toshiya Ohsakae C Ishikawa High School (School Corporation)
5 Taisei Itoh LHP Reimei High School
6 Ryu Kitani RHP Oji Baseball Club
7 Shoya Sakaue OF Kindai University
Developmental Player Draft
1 Daita Horomura OF Toyama GRN Thunderbirds
2 Shion Ohtsubo OF Ishikawa Million Stars
3 Takuma Nakazawa RHP Hakuoh University
4 Kyōsuke Kaneko INF Kanagawa University
5 Taiga Shimahara C Ehime Mandarin Pirates

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Round Player name Position Team
1 Ayuto Matsushita INF Hosei University
2 Reo Matsukawa INF Josai University
3 Taiyo Yamazaki RHP Soka University
4 Shohta Masui LHP Toyota Motor Corporation Baseball Club
5 Rengo Suzuki LHP Tokai University Kofu High School
6 Takumi Ishii INF NTT East Japan Baseball Club
7 Ryuto Iida RHP ENEOS Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Yume Komiya LHP Kawasaki City High School for Science and Technology

Yokohama DeNA BayStars

Round Player name Position Team
1 Koichiro Oda INF Aoyama Gakuin University
2 Shunya Shimada RHP Toyo University
3 Asahi Miyashita INF Toyo University
4 Hirmoi Katayama LHP Honda Baseball Club
5 Shuto Naruse INF NTT West Japan Baseball Club
Developmental Player Draft
1 Uta Shimizu INF Kyoto International High School

Yomiuri Giants

Round Player name Position Team
1 Kazuyuki Takemaru LHP Saginomiya Seisakusho Baseball Club
2 Ren Tawa RHP Waseda University
3 Kyohei Yamashiro LHP Asia University
4 Gakuto Minagawa OF Chuo University
5 Yuto Kohama INF Okinawa Electric Power Company Baseball Club
6 Kento Fuji INF Urawa Gakuin High School
Developmental Player Draft
1 Eijiro Tomishige LHP Kanagawa Future Dreams
2 Kira Hayashi RHP Rissho University
3 Rentaro Matsui C Toyohashi Chuo High School
4 Yusaku Kohno LHP Aichi Gakuin University
5 Taisei Chinen OF Niigata Albirex Baseball Club

References

  1. ^ a b c "Nippon Professional Baseball news 2025年新人選手選択会議 開催と特別協賛社決定のお知らせ". NPB.jp (in Japanese). August 21, 2025.
  2. ^ "Daily Sports baseball news ドラフトウエーバー指名順 1年おきにセ・パ入れ替え 現役ドラフトは継続審議". Daily Sports (in Japanese). September 3, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Nippon Professional Baseball 2025年 プロ野球ドラフト会議 supported by リポビタンD". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  4. ^ "スタンフォード大・佐々木麟太郎の今秋NPBドラフト指名対象に NPB中村勝彦事務局長「MLB側とも確認をしている」". hochi.news. Sports Hochi. 29 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  6. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  7. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  8. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  9. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  10. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  11. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  12. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  13. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  14. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  15. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
  16. ^ a b "2025 Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D 選択選手一覧". NPB.jp (in Japanese).
Preceded by
2024
Nippon Professional Baseball draft Succeeded by
2026