Rintaro Sasaki surprised more than a few fans, especially in his native Japan, when he decided to play college baseball in the United States instead of entering the Nippon Professional Baseball League (NPB) draft.
After his record-setting high school career, everyone expected him to be the No. 1 pick there, but that was not the path the 19-year-old star had in mind.
How Is Rintaro Sasaki Faring With the Stanford Cardinal?
Sasaki arrived at Stanford in mid-2024, preceded by the superstar halo of his 140 home runs as a high school player (Japanese all-time record).
His Cardinal teammate, Jimmy Nati, summed it up in the best possible way:
“We still can’t believe he’s here. We’re all fanboying him, for sure,” he told The Athletic last month.
However, it wasn’t until last fall that Sasaki was able to make his collegiate baseball debut, and the change came as much of a shock to him as it did to everyone else.
The Japanese star hasn’t been able to shine as brightly offensively as expected, as evidenced by his stats through the first 33 games of the season.
In 135 at-bats, Sasaki has 36 hits for a batting average of .267. It may seem even more disturbing that his power hasn’t fully exploded yet, as he has just nine extra-base hits, five doubles, and four home runs.
One detail that shows the adjustments Sasaki still has to make is that he has struck out 30 times and walked only 16, which is too few for an offensive powerhouse like he promises to be.
On the bright side, the 6’0”, 275-pound first baseman has driven in 26 runs, third best on the team. Apparently, hitting in the clutch is not a problem.
Cardinal Head Coach Is Not Worried at All
Fans may find this performance somewhat alarming, but not Stanford Cardinal head coach David Esquer:
“We’ve had first-round draft picks or players who have left here as first-round draft picks who were not dominant immediately upon dropping on a college diamond,” Esquer told ESPN. “So, the expectation that Rintaro just becomes this dominant figure immediately is a little unfair, and that’s not what we expect of him.”
KEEP READING: When Are College Baseball Players Eligible for the MLB Draft?
Sasaki has been compared to fellow countryman and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. Not by coincidence, Ohtani was coached by Rintaro’s father, Hiroshi, who is the head baseball coach at Hanamaki Higashi High School.
Logically, Rintaro is also a product of that school, but he and Ohtani are not the only ones shining on this side of the Pacific. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi also passed through Hanamaki Higashi’s classrooms and coach Sasaki’s hands.
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