Right-handed pitcher Shumpei Yoshikawa has signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks and broken amateur baseball rules in the process, informed sources said Friday.
The 23-year-old Yoshikawa was expected to go high in Nippon Professional Baseball's amateur draft this October. He is the first marquee amateur to skip NPB and sign directly with a major league club since pitcher Junichi Tazawa signed with the Boston Red Sox in December 2008.
Japan's amateur baseball federation requires players to have their player registrations deleted the day before they enter into a pro contract, but his corporate league team, Panasonic, announced Friday that Yoshikawa had violated that rule.