Baseball: Highly touted lefty Kikuchi opts for Japan over U.S.+

HANAMAKI, Japan, Oct. 25 Kyodo -
Hanamaki Higashi High School left-hander Yusei Kikuchi on Sunday announced his
decision to play in Japan next year after recent interviews with all 12
domestic and eight major league clubs.
The announcement came at his school in Iwate Prefecture four days before the
Japanese draft, where a number of teams are now expected to name the
18-year-old Kikuchi as their first-round choice.
''I'd like to play professional baseball in Japan,'' Kikuchi said. ''I was
really unsure about what to do and made up my mind only yesterday. If selected,
I'd like to play for whichever team wins the negotiating rights.''
Kikuchi helped Hanamaki Higashi to a runner-up finish at the national high
school invitational tournament in April and to a semifinal finish in the
national championship in August.
''I fell short of becoming No. 1 in Japan with my high school. I'll try to aim
for the top in Japan once again. I don't think I have what it takes to complete
at world level yet,'' Kikuchi said.
Kikuchi had last month said he would leave open the option of signing with a
major league club without playing professional baseball in Japan, a move
Junichi Tazawa made last year.
Tazawa signed a three-year deal with the Boston Red Sox and made his major
league debut on Aug. 7.
In addition to all 12 Japanese clubs, Kikuchi held talks with the Los Angeles
Dodgers, the Red Sox, the Texas Rangers, the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle
Mariners, the New York Mets, the New York Yankees and the Cleveland Indians.
His fastball clocked as high as 154 kilometers per hour, or 96 miles per hour,
during the championship, the fastest pitch ever thrown by a left-hander since
the radar gun began being used in national high school baseball tournaments in
1980.
==Kyodo