Yokohama High pitcher Shoki Oda says he will pursue MLB, not NPB

Shoki Oda, a right-handed pitcher at Yokohama High School, announced in autumn 2026 that he would pursue a career in US professional baseball rather than join Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Japan's top domestic league.

Oda had become one of the most closely watched high school prospects in Japan. His fastball reached about 97 mph (around 156 km/h), and scouts from Japanese and American clubs followed him. His announcement came shortly before the NPB draft, held on 22 October, when he would otherwise have been expected to go among the top picks.

The decision mattered because Japanese high school players almost always enter professional baseball through the NPB draft, and few of the best prospects have gone straight to the United States. Reports said a number of Major League Baseball clubs, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, were interested, and that a final choice was not expected until 2027. The announcement set up the later dispute over whether an NPB club could still select him.