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 third-round pick by the Softbank Hawks. At the moment of the announcement, he had temporarily left the venue and was unexpectedly absent, but a massive cheer erupted from the students of the baseball club. He appeared after a short delay. He was welcomed with loud cheers and applause, showing a smile.

One of the top left-handed pitchers in college baseball, he commands a fastball reaching up to 151 km/h along with a slider and a change-up. In the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, he earned the best ERA title in the fall of his second year with an ERA of 1.17. In this spring's league games, he achieved a 7-2 record with a 1.28 ERA, earning a spot on the Best Nine and his second best ERA title. In the All Japan University Baseball Championship semifinals, he set a tournament record by recording 8 consecutive strike outs, and he was selected for the Japan national collegiate team for the World College Baseball Championship (WCBC) this July. Although he was expected to play a major role as the ace this season, he left the mound after only 17 pitches in the match against Meiji University on the 19th due to shoulder discomfort.

At Takamatsu Commercial High School in Kagawa, he was a teammate of Shogo Asano of The Giants and a left-handed pitcher who contributed to the team reaching the quarter-finals of the 2022 summer Koshien. They continue to inspire each other, and he expressed his goal of competing on the same stage, saying, 'It is difficult to achieve results even at the university level, so I truly respect him for competing in the professional world, which is one or two levels higher. I want to join him there,' and that goal has now been realized.

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.