There will be plenty of noise made this month about Japanese free agents coming to MLB, including Teruaki Sato, a slugger sought after by the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Philadelphia Phillies and more.
The headlines will be a bit quieter about the most fascinating player that the Yankees and Dodgers are pursuing from Japan, though.
That’s because Shoki Oda is not a free agent.
The Yankees and Dodgers want the Japanese phenom anyway.
Who is Shoki Oda?
Oda is a high school right-handed pitcher from Yokohama High School in Japan — where high school baseball is as big as an amateur sport can get.
The 18-year-old righty was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the first round of the 2026 NPB Draft, which was held in October. That surprised some, because Oda made it clear that he wanted to come to MLB.
He’s going to have meetings with MLB teams beginning Nov. 4, according to local reports out of Japan — which only specify the Yankees and Dodgers, and not all 12 teams:
Yokohama HS RHP Shoki Oda will be meeting with 12 MLB teams, including the Dodgers and Yankees, starting November 4.
Oda, 18, was drafted by the Yomiuri Giants in the first round of the 2026 NPB Draft last month despite his intentions to play stateside.
https://t.co/dUw5kwUb0c
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) November 2, 2026
The news story appears to also say that Oda will also consider attending a United States-based college to play baseball.
It remains to be seen what the final outcome is, but the interest of the Yankees and Dodgers tells you that Oda is a real gem to be potentially signed.
Why This Is Unusual
Players in Japan usually only come to MLB after being posted — and to be posted, they first have to spend a handful of years playing in Nippon Professional Baseball — the Japanese league regarded as the second-best league in the world.
They rarely arrive while skipping NPB altogether, and so it would be almost like an insult to the league if Oda chose to instead come straight to professional baseball (or college ball) in the United States.
The Yomiuri Giants weren’t deterred, as they chose him first overall in the 2026 NPB Draft. Then they hired Hideki Matsui, the Japanese and Yankees legend, as their manager. Clearly, they’re trying to make a convincing sales pitch.
Oda appears to have his mind made up, though, and so it could be tough to believe that he’ll backtrack on his decision to come to the United States.
If he does indeed make it stateside in the weeks and months ahead, the largest intrigue will be about who he ends up playing for, because there appear to be a lot of options on the table — including two of the biggest ballclubs in the sport.
Yankees, Dodgers Battle to Steal Japanese Phenom From Yomiuri Giants