[2026 Draft] “Hidden Gems” Awaits Beyond the Second Pick! “It’s Not Just About the No. 1 Pick”: The True Value of These Promising Prospects

Kansai’s “Dr. K”

The Yomiuri Giants—with “Godzilla” Hideki Matsui set to become their new manager—made a forceful draft selection of Shoki Oda (18, Yokohama High School), known as the “Reiwa Monster,” who has expressed his intention to challenge the Major Leagues.Aoyama Gakuin University catcher Kai Watanabe (22) and right-hander Yasunari Suzuki (22) were the subject of a bidding war between two teams, with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks respectively securing negotiation rights.

However, it’s not just these “first-round picks” who are expected to make an immediate impact. The 2026 draft also featured a lineup of “hidden gems” among the second-round picks and beyond.

Leading the pack is Ritsumeikan University’s left-handed pitcher Kaku Arima (22), who throws 151 km/h and was selected by SoftBank.

“Once I turn pro, I want to refine my fastball. While velocity is important, I also want to focus on sharpness, the quality of my pitches, and my strength on the mound. In the future, I want to become a winning pitcher who can be entrusted with pitching deep into games as a starter.”

Arima burst onto the scene as the “Doctor K of Kansai” after striking out 10 consecutive batters—a tournament record—at last year’s Meiji Jingu Tournament. However, he failed to deliver results in his senior year’s league play, and his name was not called in the first round.

He must have felt that disappointment, but the moment he was selected as the second overall pick, tears of joy streamed down Arima’s face. He recalls that he had dreamed of turning pro since elementary school.

“When I was in elementary school, we only had practice on weekends. I hated studying on weekdays, so I couldn’t wait for Saturdays and Sundays. I loved high school baseball so much that I watched every single game at the Spring and Summer Koshien tournaments.”

He attended Aichi’s Aiko University Meiden High School. While Meiden is known for producing players like Kimiyasu Kudo—who recently became the new manager of the Chunichi Dragons—and Ichiro, current manager Mitsuo Kurano is considered one of the top “baseball gear geeks” in high school baseball.

They installed a monitor in the bullpen that displays pitch speed and introduced a speed gun capable of measuring spin rate—a device of which there are only a few in Japan—into their practices. They even used an AI-powered batting machine to figure out how to hit pitchers from rival schools who were being scouted by professional teams. In short, Meiden is a school committed to the digitalization of high school baseball.

“That kind of environment suited me well. Since the pitch speed is clearly displayed in the bullpen, I can’t slack off on a single pitch, and it makes me want to beat the classmates and underclassmen pitching next to me. However, relying too much on data isn’t good either, so I also value my own instincts.”

It was in the spring of his senior year of high school that his dream of turning pro became a realistic goal.

“I worked really hard on lower-body weight training during the winter. Then, after the ban on exhibition games was lifted in March, my pitch speed jumped by a full 6 km/h—from 141 km/h to 147 km/h. I thought, ‘If I give baseball my all for four years in college, I might actually make it to the pros.’”

After a turbulent year

Among the school’s alumni is Katsuki Higashi, who plays for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. Arima, also a left-hander, aimed to follow the same path as Higashi by going pro via Ritsumeikan University.

“Mr. Higashi is still my role model. Although our pitching styles are different, I also watch videos of Yoshinobu Yamamoto (of the Dodgers) to study his pitching.”

He describes himself as a “sauna enthusiast” and says he loves spending his days off visiting local public bathhouses in towns that feature depictions of Mount Fuji. The SoftBank Hawks, who drafted Arima, also selected Suzuki from Aoyama Gakuin University with their first-round pick, meaning the team now boasts both the top left-handed and right-handed college pitchers—further solidifying its reputation as a pitching powerhouse.

For the prestigious corporate team “Panasonic”—which has decided to disband at the end of this season—a final professional baseball player has emerged: Seiya Kakimoto (24), selected second overall by the Saitama Seibu Lions. The Kinki Region championship game on September 30, with a spot in the Japan Championship on the line, was a match they absolutely could not lose.With a large crowd of scouts watching, Kakimoto was entrusted with the starting role and kept the opposing lineup off balance with his vertical slider. He secured the team’s 44th appearance in the Japan Championship—a record and the team’s final one.

“I was focused solely on the team winning; I wasn’t thinking at all about making an impression on pro scouts,”

He transferred from Toyo University Himeji to Toyo University, but in his senior year, he suffered the disappointment of not being drafted.

“In high school, turning pro was a dream of mine, but it wasn’t realistic. Even after entering college, my goal was to become a ‘10-year player’ in the corporate league rather than turning pro. But then, in my second year in the corporate league, the team suspended operations, and I ended up becoming a professional baseball player—you never know what life has in store.”

While his teammates were left at a loss due to the team’s suspension, he felt a pang of guilt that he alone had seen the path to the pros open up for him.

“The suspension came as a surprise, and at times, the team felt like we were spinning our wheels. However, I tried not to take it too negatively. Regardless of the suspension, I’d already decided this would be my last year trying to make it to the pros, so I figured, ‘If I go pro, we’ll all be together anyway.’”

Click here for Part 2: The True Value of Golden Eggs… A Treasure Trove of “Hidden Gems” [2026 Draft]—It’s Not Just About the Reiwa-Era Monsters and No. 1 Picks!

From the November 13 & 20, 2026, combined issue of *FRIDAY*