Rinatro Sasaki Debuts For Stanford, Doesn't Wait to Make an Impact

Jun 16, 2018; Omaha, NE, USA; General images on the field before the start of the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

The wait is finally over. Rintaro Sasaki made headlines last year when he bucked tradition and elected not to enter the NPB Draft, instead electing to enroll at Stanford as a quicker way of getting into professional baseball in the U.S. After his junior season, Sasaki will be eligible for the MLB Draft, where the slugging first baseman will be able to go through the same process as any other college player.

On Saturday, Sasaki made his Stanford debut, playing both ends of a double-header on the road against Cal State Fullerton. In the first game, he went 2-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored, helping to lead the offense to a 13-1 victory.

In the second game, he went 1-for-4 and collected his first extra-base hit which also drove in a run, giving him five RBI through two games.

While two games isn't a lot to go on, especially for someone that is still three years away from being drafted, there was something that caught our eye in combing through the box score for each contest.

According to the counts listed on the Cal State Fullerton site, Sasaki was swinging early and often in a number of his at-bats. In the first game he went to 3-2 in his first AB, bringing home a run on a groundout, then in his next trip up he singled on an 0-1 pitch to drive in another run.

In his third time up in three innings, Sasaki struck out on a 2-2 offering. In his second-to-last at-bat of the first game, he popped out on the 1-1 pitch. In the final AB he singled up the middle, scoring two, on an 0-2 pitch.

In the second game he waited around much less.

He grounded out on an 0-1 pitch in his first trip up, then flied out on a 1-1 in the third. In the fifth, he fouled out to third on the first pitch of the at-bat, and in the seventh he doubled home a run on a 1-0 pitch. That looks like eight total pitches that he saw in four trips to the plate.

Stanford ended up winning both games, 13-1 in the first game, then 6-3 in the second. Starter Matt Scott, who is projected to be selected in the early rounds of the MLB Draft, went 5.1 innings, giving up four hits, a run, walking two and striking out four on 92 pitches to open the season.

Christian Lim, a sophomore, started the second game and went six scoreless innings without allowing a hit. He walked one and struck out four on 87 pitches. CSF was able to scratch across three runs in the final three innings, but the Cardinal still came out on top.

These two teams will play two more times in this series, with the next game coming on Sunday, February 16 at 1:05 p.m. (PT), and the final game of the series coming on Monday at the same time. Both games are set to air on ESPN+.