Japanese Baseball NPB Draft Analysis - Toshiya Okada - Chunichi Dragons
ByToshiya Okada - Pitcher - Chiben Wakayama High School
DOB : 12/5/91 
age : 17
throws / hits : L / L
height cm : 181
weight kg : 69
height inch : 71.3 Chunichi Dragons
weight lbs : 152.1 round 1
I have been touting Toshiya Okada for two years. He took over pitching duties for Japanese high school power house Chiben when he was 15 and took them to Senbatsu and Koshien several times. He is a work horse but his lankiness is a slight concern. He has always been small but packs a serious punch with his throws. Okada mixes a slurve with a fast breaking slider to go with his 144km fastball. Mentally Okada controls games with his pitch selection and has very nice off-speed pitches as well. Okada is ready for the pros already, and he also has a lot of room to improve. I would like to see him add velocity to his fastball, work a little more on his command and add weight to his toothpick frame. As far as mechanics and feel for the game, he is ready for NPB now.
Outlook: Chunichi’s 3rd starter now is Asakura. Okada is better than Asakura today, and has the potential to develop into a Chen or Yoshimi-like dominator at the pro level. Okada is still very young, but I can see him pitching in 2010 at the pro level in short spurts. Okada will eventually develop into a solid, if not spectacular, starter for Chunichi in 2012 or 2013. With last year’s pick Junki Ito poised to take over the closer job, look for Okada to add mass to his frame, speed to his ball and perhaps awards to his credentials in the future when he takes over a starter spot. He will team with Chunichi’s #2 pick Ogawa to make a formidable rotation for years to come.
Brandon Siefken has covered Japanese pro and amateur baseball since 1991. He is currently an intern for a Major League Baseball team and has been quoted in Bloomberg, The New York Times and other publications regarding Japanese baseball. Brandon is a regular writer for Bob Bavasi’s JapanBall.com site and has authored several articles including “The Kuroda Index” and “Yu Darvish: A 315 Pitch Scouting Report.”
Each year Brandon publishes the “Japan Baseball News Weekly” ( http://www.japanbaseballnews.com/?page_id=1543 ) with updated weekly stats for every player from April to October. Brandon can be contacted at brandon@japanball.com.
