The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks of the Pacific League won a four-way lottery for the right to negotiate with high school ace Hayato Terahara during the Japanese Professional Baseball draft Monday in Tokyo.
Hayato TeraharaThe Hawks went into the drawing with the Yomiuri Giants, Yokohama BayStars and Chunichi Dragons for the right to negotiate with the 18-year-old Nichinan Gakuen right-hander, who throws a 154-kph heater.
Daiei skipper Sadaharu Oh pulled the envelope indicating that the Hawks had won. Each team had an equal chance of winning.
Under the new system governing this year's draft, the 12 clubs are allowed to select up to two players from the collegiate ranks or company teams before the draft gets under way.
Both the Hanshin Tigers and the Orix BlueWave have selected two players while the Seibu Lions, Yakult Swallows and Nippon Ham also chose one during the pre-draft.
The seven teams without any pre-draft selections begin drafting in the first round. Each team announces the player it would like to select. If more than one team selects the same player, a drawing is then held.
On Monday, four teams indicated their desire to draft Terahara with their first-round pick. A four-way drawing was then held to determine which team would win the right to negotiate with him.
However, there is no guarantee the Hawks will be able to successfully sign the teenager.
Teams that are unsuccessful in the drawing submit a request for another player and must participate in additional drawings if teams make identical requests.
The three teams with one pre-draft selection will make their first choice in the second round, while Hanshin and Orix must wait until the third round.
