2026 Professional baseball Draft Conference supported by Lipovitan D (22nd)

Keio University's ace left-handed pitcher Kazuhiro Watanabe (4th year, Takamatsu Commercial High School) was selected as the 3rd pick by the Softbank Hawks. At the moment of the selection, he had temporarily left the venue and was unexpectedly absent, but a huge cheer erupted from the students of the baseball club. He appeared after a short delay. He was greeted with loud cheers and applause, showing a smile.

At Takamatsu Commercial High School in Kagawa, he was a teammate of Shogo Asano of The Giants and was a left-handed pitcher who contributed to the team's top-eight finish at Koshien in the summer of 2022. They have been a source of mutual inspiration, and Watanabe said, "I saw the news of him performing well in the first team. While I was playing in university, every time I heard about Shogo Asano's success at the professional level, which is one or two steps higher, it made me want to work harder, and thanks to that, I was able to keep going for four years." Having set a goal to compete on the same stage, that dream has now come true, and he expressed his strong desire for a showdown, saying, "From now on, we will be competing together, so I want to face him on the professional stage."

Watanabe is one of the best left-handed pitchers in the university baseball world, utilizing a fastball that reaches a maximum speed of 151 km/h, a slider, and a change-up. In the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, he earned the title for best ERA with a 1.17 mark in the autumn of his second year. In this spring's league games, he achieved a 7-2 record with a 1.28 ERA, earning a spot in the Best Nine and his second best ERA title. In the All Japan University Baseball Championship semifinals, he recorded 8 consecutive strike outs, tying the tournament record, and was selected for the university national team for the World College Baseball Championship (WCBC) in July this year. Although he was expected to play a major role as the ace this season, he complained of shoulder discomfort during the match against Meiji University on the 19th and left the mound after only 17 pitches.

Kazuhiro Watanabe. Born May 28, 2004, in Kagawa Prefecture. 22 years old. At Takamatsu Commercial High School, he was teammates with Shogo Asano (currently with The Giants) and reached the quarter-finals at Koshien in the summer of his third year. At Keio University, he began pitching in league games starting in the fall of his freshman year. 180 cm, 75 kg. Left-handed pitcher and batter.