JAPANESE OUTFIELDER PICKED IN MLB DRAFT

While Stephen Strasburg got the lion’s share of attention in last week’s Major League Baseball draft, the same Washington Nationals who took Strasburg with the top pick got a little extra notoriety in Asia after picking a Japanese outfielder in the 14th round on Wednesday.


The Nats selected 20-year-old outfielder Naoya Washiya, who recently completed his second season at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, California. College of the Desert is a two-year school in the Foothill Athletic Conference. Washiya hit .274 with three homers and 17 stolen bases in 117 at-bats for the Roadrunners, who finished 18-18 this season, including a 17-13 conference record.

Washiya was a member of the 2005 Japanese high school baseball champion Komadai Tomakomai in Hokkaido. Washiya is expected to join one of Washington’s Class A affiliates.

He is not the first Japanese product to be picked in the June draft. In 2002, the Colorado Rockies selected outfielder Mitsuru Sakamoto of Arizona Western College in the 24th round. Sakamoto went on to play two years in the Rockies system, including one game at Class AAA Colorado Springs.