A's New Signee Says Stanford's Sasaki Didn't Play a Role in His Decision

Jun 28, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; A general view of a basket of baseballs scuffed up from batting practice before the start of a game between the Oakland Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-Imagn Images | Allan Henry-Imagn Images

With the opening of a new international signing period, the Athletics officially inked two-way high schooler Shotaro Morii out of Japan. While he is a two-way player, he seems to be a little more versatile that the most well-known two-way star, Shohei Ohtani, given that he can play shortstop as well as pitch, while Ohtani serves as his team's designated hitter. He admitted on Wednesday that he has a long way to go to even approach the talent that Ohtani posseses.

Morii ended up signing with the A's for just over $1.5 million, and a big reason that he decided to don the green and gold, per A's on SI, is that the Athletics saw him as a two-way player, and he at least wanted the opportunity to continue down that path, given his range of talents.

With Morii is forgoing the typical baseball route in Japan and instead signing directly with a big league club, he was asked during the post-signing Zoom meeting whether Stanford freshman Rintaro Sasaki's decision to head to college instead of NPB played a role in his own decision-making process.

His answer was simple: "No."

This was delivered as more of a joking response than anything else, but it also appeared as though he wanted it to be known that he was making his own decision, and not following in someone else's footsteps.

To that point, Morii was asked which players he views himself as similar to on the diamond as well as on the mound. He said that Elly De La Cruz is his favorite player for his power and speed combo as well as his personality, and that he wants to be like De La Cruz offensively. On the mound, he mentioned Jacob deGrom, a two-time Cy Young award winner.

Morii is certainly charting his own path as he starts his career with the Athletics.

As for Sasaki, he has been named the best freshman heading into 2025 by Baseball America, and he will certainly be the center of attention for the Stanford Cardinal baseball program for the next three seasons. There was a report on social media that Sasaki will be headed to the Cape Cod League this summer, though the Stanford program was unable to confirm that report at this time.

Sasaki set the Japanese high school record with 140 home runs before deciding to enroll at Stanford, and he already launched four bombs in the Summer League in the United States last season. Baseball America gives him a 70 power grade on the 20-80 scout scale, which is one of the highest marks a player can receive. 80 is the highest mark.

Morii will be starting off his pro career in the Complex League in Arizona, but at some point should move up to Class A Stockton to play with the Ports. Sasaki will be just a couple of hours to the south, and both players will be extremely interesting to keep an eye on in the coming years.