The Yomiuri Giants obtained the right to negotiate with Kentaro Nishimura on Wednesday, naming the Koryo High School right-hander in the second round of the annual baseball draft held at a Tokyo hotel.
The 18-year-old Nishimura, who led the Hiroshima school to the national high school invitational tournament championship in April, was one of the hottest prospects at the meeting after 11 players had already landed deals through the system of pre-draft arrangements introduced in 2001.
The three teams that opted not to take advantage of this system, which involves only collegiate and corporate players, in choosing their top picks were the Chunichi Dragons, Hiroshima Carp and the Lotte Marines.
Chunichi named Chukyo High School infielder Hiroki Nakagawa as its No. 1, Hiroshima chose Koryo High School catcher Yuta Shirahama and Lotte went with Kawasaki Kogyo high school right-hander Tatsuya Uchi.