NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Carter Stewart will begin his professional baseball career by taking an uncommon route.

The 19-year old pitcher from Florida has signed a six-year contract with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Japan’s Pacific League that will guarantee him as much as $7 million. Baseball fans are used to seeing Japanese players come to the major leagues and have great success. It hasn’t been attempted the other way around until now.

“The more I talked about it, the more it came to me that it was a great idea and I loved it,” Stewart said. “I do hope that I create a new opportunity for young amateur players to have a different path. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I hope one day someone says this was a great idea.”

The right-hander was selected eighth overall by the Atlanta Braves in last year’s draft from Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida, but negotiations were complicated by a wrist injury.

The Major League Baseball Players Association claimed the Braves failed to make Stewart an offer of at least 40 percent of the slot value for the pick, which would have made him a free agent, but they lost the grievance.

Stewart would have been eligible for next week’s amateur draft. He was 2-2 with a 1.70 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings this season at Eastern Florida State College.

“When the American system failed him, this system allowed a far better choice and opportunity,” said Scott Boras, who is Stewart’s agent. “This is the beginning of where Japan may be for American youth — the land of the rising arms.”

Stewart said conversations about pitching in Japan started at the beginning of the year when Fukuoka expressed interest. Team executives watched him pitch and talks began to ramp up in April. Once Stewart and his parents visited Japan to see the country and tour Fukuoka’s facilities, negotiations increased.