On the 9th, pitcher Ikki Fukami (21) from National Taiwan University of Sport (3rd year), who was selected as the 8th draft pick by the Softbank Hawks, held contract negotiations at Mizuho PayPay Dome and signed a provisional contract with a signing bonus of 20 million yen and an annual salary of 7 million yen (both estimated).

A right-handed pitcher with a maximum speed of 151 km/h, born in Toyonaka City, Osaka Prefecture, to two Japanese parents. He began playing rubber-ball baseball while at Hojo Elementary School and moved to Taiwan after graduation due to his father's job transfer. After graduating from a local Japanese junior high school, he dreamed of aiming for Koshien at a Japanese high school, but gave up on the idea at the time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Explaining his reason for continuing baseball at local Tsung-Yi Senior High School in Taiwan, he said, 'Since it was a situation where I didn't even know if I could properly play baseball, my father told me I could play in Taiwan, and Taiwanese baseball was becoming stronger.' He honed his skills at National Taiwan University of Sport, which he described as 'a famous university in Taiwan with many alumni in the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League),' and paved his way to joining the NPB, which he had long admired. He plans to remain enrolled at the university after joining the team and aims to graduate over the next two to three years while taking online lectures.