The most celebrated high school slugger in recent memory will don the colors of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters in 2018.
Seven teams selected Kotaro Kiyomiya, the 18-year old superstar from Tokyo's Waseda Jitsugyo High School, during the first round of the 2017 NPB Draft on Thursday night. When the dust finally settled on weeks of speculation, it was Fighters assistant GM Masao Kida who drew the lucky card during the lottery for Kiyomiya's draft rights.
As the draft played out at a downtown hotel in Japan's bustling capital city, Kiyomiya watched from his school, located in the much sleepier western Tokyo suburb of Kokubunji. Clad in his black school uniform, he faced 150 media members, from 51 outlets, shortly after his destination was decided.