Rintaro Sasaki Chooses His Baseball Pathway

Rintaro Sasaki is a baseball slugger at Stanford University, a Division 1 school in the US. Before July 19, he needed to decide whether to continue at Stanford and obtain his degree, go back to Japan and play in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) League, or try to become a major league baseball player in the US by first joining a minor league team.

Rintaro Sasaki went to Hanamaki Higashi High School in Japan where he holds the high school record for most home runs with 140 total. His dad, Hiroshi Sasaki, is a famous baseball coach at the high school, who taught Ohtani and Kikuchi, both influential MLB baseball players. Rintaro Sasaki joined Stanford in March of 2024 but didn’t play. The next year, he played baseball as a freshman, doing reasonably well, and then further improved during his sophomore year.

One of Sasaki’s choices was to continue with Stanford. He could obtain a degree, develop his baseball skills in a low pressure environment, and acclimate more to American culture. Sasaki would be able to enjoy the college experience before moving on and perhaps trying for MLB or NPB after graduating. However, he wouldn’t be earning any money during this period due to NIL restrictions for international athletes.

One of his other choices was to go back to Japan. There, he could continue his dream of advancing Japan’s baseball league and maybe have an equal match between the winners of the US and Japan leagues. Japan’s offer also gave him more short term money, and Sasaki would be playing in his native country, although he would compete at a lower level and have no college degree yet.

If Sasaki chose the last choice, which would be trying for the major league in US, he could make more money long term and compete in baseball at the highest level of the sport. However, he would be far from his home country and family and not earn a college degree.

In the end, Rintaro Sasaki decided to join the Miami Marlins minor league team and aspires to play on a major league team next.

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