The Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants took Japanese Olympic team catcher Shinnosuke Abe in the first round of professional baseball's amateur draft Friday, while the Daiei Hawks went for right-hander Akichika Yamada in the second round.
"Gyaku-shimei," or reverse-designation picks, dominated the first two rounds of the uneventful draft held at a Tokyo hotel with only five clubs using their first-round selections to pick high school players, including four highly touted pitchers.
Under the reverse-designation system, top players coming out of college or playing for corporate league teams can reach an agreement beforehand to be drafted in the first two rounds by the pro team they hope to play for.
Although the first two rounds of the draft were largely predetermined, Abe said he was "relieved" and "happy" to have been selected by the Giants.
"I have confidence in my throwing arm, so I hope to win some playing time behind the plate," the 21-year-old catcher coming out of Chuo University said.
Daiei, meanwhile, which fell in six games to the Giants in last month's Japan Series, selected Olympic team pitcher Yamada in the second round after adding Kyushu Kyoritsu University right-hander Michinao Yamamura in the first round.
Yamamura, a four-time MVP in the Fukuoka Six collegiate league, and Yamada of Ritsumeikan University are both hard-throwing hurlers with fastballs in the 150-kph range.
Of the high school players named in the first round, infielder Seiichi Uchikawa of Oita Kogyo high school was the only position player selected, being tabbed by the Yokohama BayStars.
Complete first- and second-round selections listed in Sports Scoreboard.