2016 Nippon Professional Baseball draft


The 2016 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft was held on 20 October at the Grand Prince Hotel Takanawa to assign amateur baseball players to the NPB. It was arranged with the special cooperation of Taisho Pharmaceutical Co. with official naming rights. The draft was officially called "The Professional Baseball Draft Meeting supported by Lipovitan D".

Summary

Only the first round picks were allowed to be contested with all picks from the second round onward being based on table placing in the 2016 NPB season in a waiver system. Waiver priority was based on inter-league results. As the Pacific League teams came out on top against Central League opposition, Pacific League teams were given preference. From the third round the order was reversed continuing in the same fashion until all picks were exhausted.
Due to Tokyo Yakult Swallows manager Mitsuru Manaka's mistake at the 2015 edition of the draft, losing tickets in the lottery were made blank as to avoid confusion with winning tickets emblazoned with "Negotiation Rights Acquired."
87 new players were drafted with a further 28 development players selected.

First Round Contested Picks

Pacific League

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters

Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks

Chiba Lotte Marines

Saitama Seibu Lions

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles

Orix Buffaloes

Central League

Hiroshima Carp

Yomiuri Giants

Yokohama DeNA BayStars

Hanshin Tigers

Tokyo Yakult Swallows

Chunichi Dragons