The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles obtained the right to negotiate a deal with Toyo University right-hander Satoshi Nagai in the first round of Japanese baseball's amateur draft on Tuesday.
Rakuten was the only team to pick a player in the first round, while 10 clubs had earlier applied for player acquisitions via "kibo-waku" arrangements and were excluded from the opening round.
Tuesday's draft was designed to choose players who were not covered in the draft for high school players held in September, with collegiate and corporate league players comprising the bulk of picks.
In September, Rakuten acquired the negotiating rights for highly touted Komadai Tomakomai pitcher Masahiro Tanaka in the draft for high school players.