1/18/2026-Jayden Drake, who ironically played for the Marysville Drakes in 2024, will continue his baseball journey by playing in Japan this upcoming season.

Drake signed a deal to pitch for the Kamikawa Shibetsu Samurai Blades, based in Northern Japan. The Samurai Blades play in the independent Hokkaido Frontier League and is a feeder team for affiliated ballclubs in the Eastern and Western League's of Nippon Professional Baseball.

“My interest and excitement about going stems from the discipline the Japanese have when approaching this game,” Drake said. “I believe it will help to turn me into a more well-rounded pitcher and teach me things that I could only learn in an environment such as this one.”

Drake threw a no-hitter against the Vallejo Seaweed during his time in Marysville. It is one of three no-hitters thrown in Pecos League history. The righthander from Frisco, Texas pitched last season for the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers in the Pioneer League, where he won a pitcher of the week award. Late in the season, he was traded to the Great Falls Voyagers.

Former Marysville teammate Jumpei Ohashi, from Asahikawa, Japan, put Drake on the Samurai Blades radar. After viewing video of Drake, the team offered him a contract for the 2026 season.

“After we established our communication, it took just a few short weeks before we came to a consensus on the contract,” Drake explained.

Drake's new home ballpark, Daishin Baseball Stadium, located in Aomori, Japan, is a mere 13-hour plane ride and 6,162 miles away from Frisco, Texas, give or take a few miles.

“I've touched just about every state in our country minus a few in the Northeast and Hawaii, so I'm no stranger to being far from home, but this will undoubtedly be the furthest from home I've ever gone,” Drake said. “Before this, Skagway, Alaska has got to be the furthest I've ever been."

Drake will head to the Land of the Rising Sun in early May. The Samurai Blades season runs into October.