After sending shockwaves across the baseball world by skipping the Nippon Professional Baseball Draft in 2023, Rintaro Sasaki made his collegiate debut for Stanford University last week, recording seven hits and eight RBI over a four-game sweep of Cal State Fullerton. How did the Japanese prospect, who has earned comparisons to Prince Fielder, get here, and how does his future look? Let’s dig in.
In October 2023, Rintaro Sasaki made the unprecedented decision to skip the NPB Draft to pursue college in the United States. The Iwate Prefecture native smashed 140 home runs during his high school career, shattering Kotaro Kiyomiya’s previous record of 111. As such, Sasaki was considered a generational power prospect and was expected to be the most coveted player at the 2023 NPB Draft.
However, his pro career was put on the back burner as Sasaki elected to play college baseball in the U.S. instead. Of course, Sasaki was not the first player to forgo NPB in favor of playing baseball stateside (previous examples include Junichi Tazawa signing with the Boston Red Sox in 2008 and Itsuki Takemoto going to the University of Hawaii in 2023), but he was absolutely the most prominent.
Sasaki’s father, Hiroshi, is the head baseball coach at Hanamaki Higashi High School and coached both Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi. Rintaro grew up around baseball and, under his father’s guidance, made the difficult decision to skip the NPB Draft, believing it was the best way for him to pursue his dream of becoming a superstar while also growing into the best version of himself.
Several major programs, like Vanderbilt, reportedly reached out to Sasaki, but the 18-year-old ultimately committed to attend the prestigious Stanford University in California, enrolling in the spring of 2024. His NCAA debut was put on hold until 2025, but Sasaki spent the summer playing in the MLB Draft League and the Appalachian League for the Trenton Thunder and Greeneville Flyboys, respectively. Despite playing much older competition, the 230-pound masher held his own, slashing .257/.439/.505 with seven home runs in 35 games for his first taste of American ball.
The hype around Sasaki continued to grow as the 2025 college baseball season approached, with Baseball America naming him the Preseason Freshman of the Year. D1 Baseball also produced a six-part podcast series on the Japanese prospect’s unique path to Stanford (I was featured in episode one with Daron Vaught!)
On Saturday, February 15, Sasaki took the field for the first time as a Cardinal at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, wearing jersey No. 3. He lived up to the billing immediately with two hits and a team-high four RBI as Stanford cruised to a 13-1 win in its season opener. The first baseman went on to record five more hits and four more RBI in the following three games, including two hard-hit doubles. Overall, Sasaki hit .389/.450/.500 for the series, getting his collegiate career off on the right foot.
The college baseball season runs through June, and Sasaki also plans to play for the Cotuit Kettleers of the distinguished Cape Cod League this summer. Best of luck to Rintaro for the rest of the year. What a journey already!
- NPB Standings
- Central League Hitting Leaders
- Central League Pitching Leaders
- Pacific League Hitting Leaders
- Pacific League Pitching Leaders
- Yakyu Cosmopolitan’s Website
