New Hanshin Tigers pitcher Kotaro Otake and new Chunichi Dragons outfielder Seiya Hosokawa were named the Central League's monthly MVPs for May on Thursday, while lefty Takayuki Kato and his Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters teammate Chusei Mannami were the Pacific League's honorees.
Otake, who had some success in his five seasons with the PL's Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, and Hosokawa, an impressive minor league hitter for the CL's DeNA BayStars, found greener pastures this year through December's active player draft.
Inaugurated last season to allow second-tier players to find more playing opportunities with other clubs, the active player draft required each team to both submit at least two players interested in moving and select and sign one or more of those from the available pool.