The Los Angeles Dodgers have a number of objectives to complete this offseason after falling short of their three-peat goal in 2026.
Although it won’t be a benefit to their 2027 club, one of those objectives is completing their pursuit of Japanese high school pitcher Shoki Oda. The right-hander is highly coveted by MLB clubs, but there is an overwhelming expectation he will end up signing with the Dodgers.
All signs point to the Dodgers being Oda’s preferred choice, and David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports has reported that the interest is mutual.
“The Dodgers are going to be aggressive to try to sign this young man. It’s well known that his favorite team is the Dodgers. It’s well known his favorite player is Yamamoto,” Vassegh said on SportsNet LA. “My understanding, talking to people in the Japanese media community, Oda is starting to meet with teams. The Dodgers reportedly are one of them.
“His high school actually announced in Japan going into the next 10 days that he’s going to meet with other teams. But a lot of Japanese media members I’ve spoken to predict the Dodgers will be the team that signs Oda.”
Making the move from Japan to the United States without Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) experience is rare. For that reason, Oda’s path to the Majors with whichever team he signs with will be different from Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki.
Rather than making the Major League roster outright, Oda will have to work his way through the Minor League system because of his lack of professional experience. This actually works out for the Dodgers, as the team clearly has no immediate need or space for him in the starting rotation.
Oda will be restricted to signing a Minor League contract because he bypassed the threshold of being at least 25 years old with six years of professional experience.
The Dodgers’ negotiating budget is therefore limited to their international bonus pool, which is the same as when they signed Roki Sasaki.
Shoki Oda explains motivation for early MLB move
Oda announced his intention to forgo the NPB draft in favor of either signing with an MLB team as an international free agent or attend an American college
He believes it’s important for him to make the jump sooner rather than later is because of the language barrier, which he anticipates being the “biggest hurdle.” By coming to the United States as an 18-year-old, he will have more than seven extra years on pitchers who wait to come until they are 25.