# 「今週の感謝ですッ！：青山学院大学：鈴木泰成投手(左)＆渡部海捕手(右)」 - Show: アフター6ジャンクション 2 - Published: 2026-10-22 - Canonical: https://podc.club/en/episode/1505337177_6f1b9cafb2a0.html - Audio: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/TBS5611276296.mp3 - Source: Edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. Not an official summary. At the 2026 NPB Draft held on October 22, Aoyama Gakuin University pitcher Suzuki Taisei and catcher Watanabe Kai were both selected with first-overall picks — Suzuki by SoftBank and Watanabe by Rakuten — each after two teams competed in a lottery. The radio show After 6 Junction 2's beloved segment "Konshū no Kansha desu" (今週の感謝です) picked up the story the same day, noting that a pitcher-and-catcher battery going first overall together was a near-perfect fit for the show's ongoing Pair Week feature. ## What this episode answers ### Which players from Aoyama Gakuin University were selected with first-overall picks in the 2026 NPB Draft? Left-handed pitcher Suzuki Taisei (鈴木泰成) and catcher Watanabe Kai (渡部海) — teammates who form a battery — were both picked first overall. ### Which teams drafted Suzuki Taisei and Watanabe Kai, respectively? Suzuki Taisei was acquired by SoftBank and Watanabe Kai by Rakuten. ### How many consecutive years of multiple first-round picks does this draft give Aoyama Gakuin University? Four consecutive years — this draft extended Aoyama Gakuin University's record of producing multiple first-round picks. ### Were the two selections decided by sole bids or by competitive lottery? Both were decided by competitive lottery after two teams each submitted first-round bids; neither was a sole selection. ### Why did the segment presenter describe this pair as a perfect fit for the show's Pair Week theme? Because a pitcher and a catcher — roles that are defined as a pair — both going first overall together matched the Pair Week theme exactly. ## Article ## "Konshū no Kansha desu" Pair Week Special After 6 Junction 2 (アフター6ジャンクション 2) runs a fan-favorite recurring segment called "Konshū no Kansha desu" (今週の感謝です) — roughly "This Week's Gratitude." The format is immediately recognizable: host Kumazaki (熊崎) opens every edition by looping phrases like "nothing but gratitude" and "seriously grateful," setting a tone that is equal parts sincere and playful. This week the segment was running as part of the show's broader Pair Week feature, so the gratitude it delivered had to be, by design, about pairs. What arrived was a story from the world of professional baseball — and it came in real time, because the 2026 NPB Draft took place on the very day of the broadcast, October 22. ## Aoyama Gakuin's Battery Pair Both Drafted First Overall The two players at the heart of this week's gratitude were Suzuki Taisei (鈴木泰成), a left-handed pitcher, and Watanabe Kai (渡部海), a catcher — both from Aoyama Gakuin University. In baseball, a pitcher and catcher working together are called a battery, which makes them a pair in the most literal sense imaginable. The segment's presenter came to the studio straight from working the draft broadcast, carrying the live energy of the event into the show with them. That firsthand excitement colored how they introduced the news: two players who share a battery had both been selected with the very first pick of the draft. ## Valued Enough for Two Teams to Compete Suzuki Taisei was acquired by SoftBank; Watanabe Kai went to Rakuten. Neither selection, however, was a quiet, uncontested affair. Both players attracted first-round bids from two separate teams each, and in both cases the final pick was settled by lottery. The fact that multiple clubs were willing to stake their top selection on each player is a direct measure of how highly professional baseball regards them. For a battery — pitcher and catcher — to each draw competing bids simultaneously is, by any standard, an exceptionally rare occurrence in the history of the draft. ## Aoyama Gakuin's Four-Consecutive-Year Record of Multiple First-Round Picks This draft extended an already impressive run for Aoyama Gakuin University: the school has now sent multiple players to the first round for four consecutive years. Already considered among the very top producers of pro-ready talent in university baseball, Aoyama Gakuin reinforced and extended that reputation in 2026 by delivering its picks in the form of a battery pair. The presenter framed it with characteristic enthusiasm, calling Suzuki and Watanabe "the top of the top of university baseball, a top battery, a top pair," and underscored the weight of both players moving on to professional careers at the same time and from the same school. ## A "Gratitude" That Perfectly Fit Pair Week A pitcher and a catcher — two roles that exist in relation to each other, whose partnership is so fundamental to the game that it has its own name — both drafted first overall on the same afternoon: the story lined up with Pair Week almost too neatly to be believed. The presenter said so directly, calling it exactly the kind of gratitude that fit the theme. The segment closed with warm words sent in the direction of Suzuki Taisei and Watanabe Kai, along with genuine expectation for what both players will go on to accomplish at the professional level. ## Takeaways - Pitcher Suzuki Taisei (SoftBank) and catcher Watanabe Kai (Rakuten) from Aoyama Gakuin University were both selected first overall in the 2026 NPB Draft — an extraordinarily rare outcome for a battery pair. - Both picks were decided by lottery after two teams each submitted competing first-round bids, underscoring the high regard the professional game holds for both players. - Aoyama Gakuin University extended its record to four consecutive years of producing multiple first-round draft picks.