Rakuten and SoftBank Split Aoyama Gakuin Battery in 2026 NPB Draft

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks split Aoyama Gakuin University’s celebrated battery in the first round of the 2026 NPB Draft on Thursday, October 22. Rakuten won the lottery for catcher Kai Watabe, while SoftBank secured right-hander Taisei Suzuki after a separate two-team draw.

The result sent two of Japanese college baseball’s most accomplished prospects to Pacific League rivals. Watabe and Suzuki helped drive Aoyama Gakuin through six consecutive Tohto University League championships, and both entered draft day as potential immediate-impact players.

Two lotteries, two Pacific League winners

Rakuten and the Chunichi Dragons both submitted Watabe’s name in the opening round. The Eagles won the negotiating rights to the 180-centimeter, 90-kilogram catcher, whom the club described as the top university catcher in the class and a player with championship experience at both high school and university level.

Watabe’s value goes beyond his right-handed bat. He has handled elite college pitching throughout Aoyama Gakuin’s run and brings experience directing games under tournament pressure. That profile gives Rakuten a potential long-term answer at one of baseball’s most demanding positions.

Suzuki drew bids from the Chiba Lotte Marines and SoftBank. Hawks chief baseball officer Kenji Jojima pulled the winning ticket, giving the reigning Pacific League power a polished starter with a fastball that has reached 155 km/h (96.3 mph).

The 22-year-old also works with a curveball, splitter and forkball, combining power with the command and sequencing expected from a pitcher who could compete for rotation innings early in his professional career.

A championship battery becomes a rivalry

Watabe and Suzuki arrived at Aoyama Gakuin as part of a program that has become a pipeline to the top of the NPB Draft. Their four-year partnership was built around Suzuki’s deep arsenal and Watabe’s game-calling, helping the university sustain one of the strongest runs in Japanese college baseball.

Now that partnership will become a Pacific League storyline. Rakuten landed the catcher after beating a Central League club in the lottery, while SoftBank defeated a division rival for the pitcher. The two former teammates could eventually face each other repeatedly, with Watabe trying to guide the Eagles’ staff against the Hawks and Suzuki pitching to him from the opposite dugout.

The split also underlined the strength of the 2026 college class. All six Pacific League clubs used their first-round negotiating rights on amateur standouts, but Aoyama Gakuin was the only school to send both halves of its starting battery to the league in the opening round.

Draft rights do not make the players professionals immediately; Rakuten and SoftBank must still complete contract negotiations. But the lotteries gave both clubs their preferred first-round targets—and turned one of college baseball’s best partnerships into a future Pacific League rivalry.