Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Due to the historical and present affiliation of Japanese baseball players with the Dodgers, basically any and every Japanese player is linked to them, no matter how much or little sense it makes. That said, their ongoing connection to right-handed high school pitcher Shoki Oda does appear to have legs at this point, so it’s worth taking a look at what all the fuss is about with him and how the Dodgers are thought to be in pole position to land him.
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Oda is 18, stands 6’1″ tall, and has a rather slim build at around 175 pounds. Surprisingly, for all the attention, there isn’t a ton of detailed scouting info available on the Yokohama High School pitcher yet. As you’ve likely heard by now, most reports simply hype up his tournament-record 97 MPH fastball at this past Koshien.
Shoki Oda (Yokohama HS ace) made a new history as he threw 156 kmh (97 mph) pitch, the fastest one in Koshien tournament history! pic.twitter.com/POBGnZIoVF
— Highschool Baseball in Japan (高校野球) (@HS_baseballJP) August 14, 2026
Speaking of that fastball, Oda has hit 98 MPH before in game action elsewhere, and scouting directors from both the Yomiuri Giants and Nippon Ham Fighters have praised his fastball shape as having life and hop to it.
横浜高校、織田君、最終回ギアを上げて156km、157km連発！#高校野球 #選手権 #甲子園 #決勝戦 #神奈川大会 #横浜高校 #桐光学園 pic.twitter.com/72PPiFG6PR
— 5J (@gojo_newfate) July 26, 2026
The specifics on his secondaries are less documented, but as is pretty typical for Japanese pitchers, he has a ton of them. There’s reportedly a cutter, slider, curve, split, and changeup, with the 88-90 MPH split particularly notable among what’s described as advanced secondaries.
In the following videos, you get a look at a cutter/slider around 83-86 MPH, a curve from 78-80 MPH, and the aforementioned split/change. It’s not hard to see why scouts believe his secondaries are promising, as it’s clear he can spin it.
第108回全国高校野球選手権大会#花巻東 × #横浜
— バーチャル高校野球 (@asahi_koshien) August 18, 2026
試合終盤でもうなる剛腕！
横浜･織田 またまた最速タイで3者連続三振
?最新情報は #バーチャル高校野球 で！https://t.co/pszTSZAXYF pic.twitter.com/2CVzNh7kaN
Yokohama HS RHP Shoki Oda got it done at Koshien in front of NPB and MLB scouts ?
— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) August 10, 2026
8.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 12 K, 139 P
Fastball up to 95 mph ? pic.twitter.com/4qe9f0YZY2
Two of the best pitching prospects in Asia pitched today at the U18 Asian Championship. Jen-Yu Liu(Taiwan) went 4 2/3 innings with 7 strikeouts and allowed 2 runs. Shoki Oda went 6 innings for Japan and struck out 7 and allowed 1 run and threw 106 pitches. pic.twitter.com/t8L6RRCOKc
— Jeff Duda (@INTLBaseball24) September 12, 2026
On the personal side, he has two sisters and his mother raised the three of them as a single parent after a divorce with his father. Shoki has expressed a lot of appreciation for her and said he’s motivated to make all their lives easier by providing support for them. Seems like a good egg.
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Now, for the reason there’s a lot of noise around a him signing with the Dodgers. A couple weeks ago Oda said he intends to forgo playing in NPB. That’s presumably to sign with an MLB team as an international free agent (though he could also opt for the college route), and he reportedly completed the international amateur free agent registration recently ahead of the deadline.
Of course, that declaration by Oda didn’t prevent the Giants from drafting him in the first round a week ago, clearly with hopes that they and new manager Hideki Matsui could convince him to stay at him. For Oda’s part, he said he was honored by the pick but that his mind was unchanged by it. Still, the Giants are reportedly hoping that any CBA mess overseas could provide them with the opportunity they need.
Assuming he does come over, a recent report goes deeper into why the Dodgers specifically are favorites for Oda, which is due to their history of interest in him, Oda being a fan of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and that he likely made contact with Dodger officials during a recent visit to the United States — including attending Divisional Series playoff games. Notably, the Dodgers reportedly scouted him in Taiwan during the U-18 Asian Championship — with a contingent that included Vice President Of Player Personnel Galen Carr — and also had scouts watching him at Koshien. Among other teams named as possibilities are the Yankees, Cardinals, and Pirates, though 10 teams total are reportedly showing interest and will get meetings, with speculation that he wants to get a sense of their development plans for him.
As far as the bonus figure he could command, the Dodgers will likely have among the lowest international bonus pool money available when/if things open up, though the six million dollars they had last year figures to be plenty to secure his signature in some fashion. Additionally, he’s rather overt in his favoritism towards the Dodgers on socials, and perhaps a sign the Dodgers expect to sign him could be they don’t have any big names lined up for the upcoming international free agency period.
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As the fog clears a bit on Shoki Oda’s career path in the coming months, there will surely be a ton more details revealed, both about him as a pitcher and his eventual destination. For now, it seems like the Dodgers have an inside track on a potential first-round talent at perhaps something like first-round money as well, and he’d go a long way to deepening the team’s collection of front-line pitching prospects that has been a relative area of need in recent years.
