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A Dodgers pitcher throws from the mound during a regular-season game.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are reportedly in hot pursuit of a 17-year-old pitching prodigy from Japan, as the club looks to land the highly touted teenager before he becomes eligible for the Nippon Professional Baseball draft, according to a report by online baseball journalist Edwin Hernández Jr..
At least six teams have been linked to right-hander Shoki Oda, who still has a year left at the prestigious Yokohama High School — a school as storied for its baseball program as for its output of top academic students. But so far, only the Dodgers have been identified as one of those teams.
Oda is expected to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NPB draft, but according to the Hernández Jr. report, the Dodgers are attempting to lure him into signing before he even goes through the draft in his native country. Japanese players who have never been under contract to one of the 12 NPB teams are exempt from the restrictive and costly posting system that applies to any NPB player with under nine years of pro experience.
“Known for his speed and control, Oda could be a key addition to any MLB team that manages to convince him to cross the Pacific,” wrote Ismael Hernández de Dios of the site AlBat.com on Friday. “Oda isn’t just a fast pitcher; he also boasts a repertoire of pitches that leaves scouts in awe. His fastball, reaching up to 94 mph, is just one part of his arsenal. This young talent has demonstrated a maturity and skill on the mound that is rarely seen at his age.”
Who Is Shoki Oda?
Born on June 3, 2008, in Kitakyushu, a city of about 900,000 people on the northernmost edge of Kyushu, the third-largest of Japan’s four main islands, Oda picked up a baseball as a first-grader and started pitching in third grade, according to a profile published by Japan’s Hochi Sports newspaper.
As a high schooler entering his final baseball season, Oda now stands approximately six feet tall and weighs 174 pounds. Last year, he pitched Yokohama to the championship of Japan’s annual Spring High School Baseball Tournament, and in the even higher-profile summer tournament, Oda pitched two complete-game shutouts — the first underclassman to accomplish that feat.
According to the Chinese news site Sohu.com, Oda already commands a four-pitch arsenal, with a fastball that sits at about 93 mph. He also throws a slider “primarily for strategic purposes” which dips down to about 81 mph, as well as a changeup and curveball.
Oda Would Not Be First Japanese High School Star Jumping to MLB
While there have not been many Japanese high school players who have made the leap directly to the United States professional ranks, Oda would not be the first. That distinction belongs to Makoto “Mac” Suzuki, who signed a $750,000 contract with the Seattle Mariners in 1993 — two years before Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo opened the floodgates for Japanese players in MLB by making the leap from NPB’s Kintetsu Buffaloes.
But injuries derailed Suzuki and he did not make his Mariners debut until 1996, and then only for one appearance. His first full season came in 1999. Suzuki pitched three more seasons for three other teams before returning to Japan and joining NPB’s Orix Blue Wave in 2003.
In January last year, the Athletics signed 18-year-old high school two-way player Shotaro Morii to a $1.5 million contract. After 43 games in the Arizona Complex League where he put up a .783 OPS in 188 plate appearances and played second base and shortstop — but did not pitch — Morii is now rated as the No. 21 prospect in the Athletics’ system by MLB Pipeline.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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