The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters obtained the right to negotiate with 18-year-old Yu Darvish on Wednesday, naming the hard-throwing Tohoku high school pitcher in the first round of the amateur draft.
Darvish threw a no-hitter in the national high school baseball invitational tournament in March and has been dubbed the No. 1 high school right-hander with his fastball clocking over 150 kph.
"I'm honored to be selected," said Darvish, whose father is Iranian and mother Japanese.