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As usual, there were no games on Monday, but there was some news involving a new draft, COVID measures and a look at Tuesday’s starting pitching matchups of interest.

NPB to hold “Active Player Draft”

In early December, NPB teams will share lists of players that are willing to leave their current team and who can be had for the asking in its new active player draft.

What we know so far is that each team will be required to nominate two players willing to move, and must select at least one player from another team. The union has been fighting for this for some time, although it will likely be a competition among the 12 teams to identify the absolutely least valuable players on their roster.

I wrote about how this exercise in the worst kind of cynicism could be a really good thing for Japanese baseball for all the wrong reasons.

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Japanese pro baseball will conduct its first active player draft in early December, and as unpromising as it sounds at this moment, some real good might come out of it, and not because of owners’ altruism.

It will be a kind of Japanese version of MLB’s Rule 5. Each team, it seems, will be required to list at least two players they are willing to part with and who agree to submit to a physical, and select one player from the draft pool.

Teams could choose their listed players by evaluating who is most likely to benefit from such a move. You know, saying, “This guy has been loyal and has talent but we don’t have a place to play him and we would love to see him get a shot to play every day with another team.”

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writing & research on Japanese baseball

jballallen.com

NPB news: Sept. 5, 2022

NPB to hold “Active Player Draft”

Draft dodgers and hidden gems

writing & research on Japanese baseball