The Nippon Professional Baseball executive committee on Tuesday approved a proposed return to a unified draft for high school, collegiate and corporate players. The approval came after a draft reform committee agreed in early October to have a unified draft from next year. Under the current draft system introduced in 2005, high school players are drafted separately from collegiate and corporate players. Meanwhile, the committee was unable to agree on how the draft should be staged. Eight of the 12 professional clubs insisted on a waiver system, while the Hanshin Tigers, the Hiroshima Carp and the Softbank Hawks said players should be able to name which teams they want to play for.
