Did the Arizona Diamondbacks break protocol to sign Japanese pitcher Shumpei Yoshikawa?

Nick Piecoro | The Republic | azcentral.com

SAN FRANCISCO – The Diamondbacks are on the verge of signing a Japanese amateur player, a move viewed by some as a potentially significant development in the procurement of talent from that country, and by others as nothing more than a savvy decision by a club that was paying attention.

The team has agreed to a deal with 23-year-old right-hander Shumpei Yoshikawa that includes a $650,000 signing bonus. Once the agreement becomes official, Yoshikawa will become just the second amateur player in the past decade to bypass Japan’s top league, Nippon Professional Baseball.

By and large, major league teams give NPB clubs right of first refusal when it comes to signing Japan’s top talent, and while that appears to be the case with the Yoshikawa deal, it also is being viewed by some as the latest indication change could be on the horizon.

Yoshikawa went undrafted by the NPB out of high school and college and was in his second season pitching for a team in Japan’s industrial league, a level roughly equivalent to an independent league in the United States.

Because Yoshikawa was not drafted, the Diamondbacks seem to be viewed by most observers as somewhat in the clear to sign him. However, Yoshikawa was said to have turned himself into a prospect for this October’s NPB draft, raising questions about whether the Diamondbacks jumped the gun – and whether they might face repercussions for breaking protocol in a culture that values doing business entirely above-board.

Of course, the decision also was Yoshikawa’s to make and he apparently wanted to leave. While only a handful before him have actually done it, many have considered it, and some see his signing as the latest indication attitudes are softening in regard to Japanese amateur players departing for the U.S.

Many point to two high-profile players out of the same Japanese high school as examples. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi was said to be close to signing with a major league club out of high school in 2009 but ultimately decided not to, in part because of advice from his high school coach. Three years later, two-way star Shohei Ohtani faced the same decision, and while he, too, decided to stay, the same coach was no longer encouraging his player to stay.

Last month, the Kansas City Royals signed 16-year-old right-hander Kaito Yuki to a contract that included a $322,500 bonus, a deal that’s believed to be the first instance of a Japanese player bypassing high school to sign with a major league team.

“The only way this really continues to build into something is if the Japanese players themselves begin to act on it,” said a scout with a National League club. “If they just keep doing what these two guys (Yoshikawa and Yuki) did. If there are clubs like the Diamondbacks who are going to scout the industrial leagues, they just have to keep saying they want to sign.

“I think the only concern with the Japanese teams is their lack of control over the development and the progress of it. If this becomes an avalanche, what becomes of their league? Not everyone is going to want to go, but can you see a point where the best three to five guys every year go out? That could eventually create problems for that league.”

A late-bloomer, Yoshikawa profiles as a potential back-of-the-rotation major league starter, according to a scout familiar with him. Listed at 6-foot-1, Yoshikawa is said to have a low-90s fastball, slider and splitter.

“He knows what he’s doing on the mound,” said the scout, who works for an American League club. “His pitches are good, not great, but he knows how to sequence them. He’s got feel, he’s pretty athletic and you can just tell he knows what he’s trying to do with the ball.”

Yoshikawa is the first player to be plucked out of Japan’s industrial league by a major league club since the Boston Red Sox signed right-hander Junichi Tazawa in 2008. Several Diamondbacks executives, including General Manager Mike Hazen, assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and special assistant Craig Shipley, were with the Red Sox at the time.

That deal led the NPB to implement the so-called “Tazawa Rule,” which forces players who bypass the league to sit out two years before returning to play in Japan.

Mack Hayashi, the Diamondbacks’ director of Pacific Rim operations, is said to have spearheaded the Yoshikawa signing. He declined to comment, likely because the deal is not yet official. Several other Diamondbacks executives also would not speak on the record about the deal.

The agreement also has created controversy due to a more technical violation. For an industrial league player to be free to negotiate with a foreign club, he must first formally withdraw from the NPB draft, something Yoshikawa failed to do. Officials with his team, Panasonic, claimed ignorance to the rule, according to reports.

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Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.