Registration of players under control (Nippon Professional Baseball)

A Registration of players under control (支配下選手登録, Shihaika Sensyu Touroku) is the process of notifying Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) that a professional baseball team affiliated with the NPB has the exclusive right to sign a contract with a specific player. (NPB Agreement, Article 52) A player whose unified contract documents have been approved and published by NPB is called a Registered player under control (支配下登録選手, Shihaika Touroku Sensyu) or a Controlled player (支配下選手, Shihaika Sensyu), and under Article 68 of the NPB Agreement, a team has exclusive ownership of a player unless the player becomes a free agent.