Overview
The NPB Draft is held annually in October, where 12 teams select amateur players. First-round picks use a bidding system with a lottery for overlapping selections. From the second round onward, a waiver system is used based on previous season standings. A split draft separating high school and college/corporate players was briefly introduced in 2005 but reverted to a unified draft in 2008. A development draft also runs in parallel for selecting players on development contracts.