The Orix Buffaloes held a pre-draft meeting at a hotel in Tokyo. Following the same policy as in 2022 with Soya (Hakuoh University), they will not announce their first-round pick in advance. The decision will be made on the day of the draft, the 22nd. GM Junichi Fukura explained, "It was a heated discussion. There are various perspectives regarding the short, medium, and long term. We want to maintain a good balance between pitchers and fielders."

Last year, they demonstrated skillful drafting by securing three high-ranking high school pitchers, including Fujikawa from Nobeoka Gakuen. Within the team, aces Miyagi and Yamashita are currently sidelined for long periods due to surgeries, resulting in a particular shortage of starting pitchers. Regarding who will draw the lots in the event of overlapping picks with other teams, Manager Mamoru Kishida revealed with a joke, "I am discussing it with President Madono. We both say we want to do it, so we are currently in a state of conflict."

For the past two years, the team selected Nishikawa from Aoyama Gakuin University and Ishigaki from Ken-dai Takasaki as their first-round picks, both of whom were also contested by Lotte. Manager Kishida failed to win the lottery for two consecutive years. Will it be 'third time's the charm' for the manager, or 'beginner's luck' for Team President Madono? GM Fukura looked a bit disappointed, saying, 'There are two people who really want to draw, so they said they'd go. There was no turn for me...'