The 18-year-old top prospect will receive a signing bonus of 100 million yen plus performance bonuses of up to 50 million yen. His annual salary was set at 15 million yen for the first year.

"Playing professional baseball has been my dream and goal since I started to play baseball 10 years ago. I look forward to being on that stage," Kikuchi said after talks with Seibu officials in a hotel in Shizukuishi, Iwate Prefecture.

"I want to be a pitcher people talk about from generation to generation," he said.

Seibu won the rights to negotiate a contract with Kikuchi in the Japanese baseball draft last month.

He had interviews with all 12 domestic and eight major league clubs before deciding to start his career in Japan.

"I want Kikuchi to be like Matsuzaka," said senior Seibu official Kosuke Maeda, who attended the talks along with Kikuchi's parents.

Daisuke Matsuzaka had a 108-60 record with a 2.95 ERA in eight seasons with Seibu before joining the Boston Red Sox in 2007 through the posting system.