1998 NPB Amateur Draft

The 1998 NPB draft was held November 20, 1998.

Pre-Draft - Reverse Draft Phase

Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Notes
Chunichi Dragons	Kosuke Fukudome	IF	Nippon Life Insurance (Ind)
Yomiuri Giants	Koji Uehara	P	Osaka University of Health and Sport Sciences (Col.)
Kintetsu Buffaloes	Shinji Udaka	P	Kindai University (Col.)
Chiba Lotte Marines	Masahide Kobayashi	P	Tokyo Gas (Ind)

First Round - initial picks

Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Notes
Seibu Lions	Daisuke Matsuzaka	P	Yokohama High School (HS)	Won lottery for Matsuzaka's rights over Nippon Ham and Yokohama
Nippon Ham Fighters	Daisuke Matsuzaka	P	Yokohama High School (HS)	Lost lottery for Matsuzaka to Seibu
Yakult Swallows	Katsutoshi Ishido	P	Aikodai Meiden High School (HS))
Orix Blue Wave	Nagisa Arakaki	P	Okinawa Suisan High School (HS)	Won lottery for Arakaki's rights over Daiei, but he refused to sign
Hanshin Tigers	Kyuji Fujikawa	P	Kochi Commercial High School (HS)
Hiroshima Carp	Akihiro Higashide	IF	Tsuruga Kehi High School (HS)
Yokohama BayStars	Daisuke Matsuzaka	P	Yokohama High School (HS)	Lost lottery for Matsuzaka to Seibu
Daiei Hawks	Nagisa Arakaki	P	Okinawa Suisan High School (HS)	Lost lottery for Arakaki to Orix

First Round - redraft

Team	Player	Position	School (Type)	Notes
Nippon Ham Fighters	Kazunari Sanematsu	C	Saga Gakuen High School (HS)
Yokohama BayStars	Katsuaki Furuki	IF	Toyota Otani High School (HS)
Daiei Hawks	Ryo Yoshimoto	IF	Kyushu Gakuin High School (HS)