Stanford Baseball: First look at Japanese phenom Rintaro Sasaki
Back in February, the Stanford baseball program received news that Japanese phenom and one of the most highly anticpaited prospects in the world, would be joining the team next season.
Rintaro Sasaki, who graduated from the same school that produced Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani opted to go a different route than most players from Japan. Despite being projected as the No. 1 pick in pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball Draft, he opted to come to America for college.
His stats seem like they are fresh out of a video game, as he hit a Japanese high school record 140 home runs, walked twice as many times as he has struck out, has career batting average of .413, and a .514 on-base percentage with an .808 slugging percentage. Head coach David Esquer expressed just how pleased he was to land Rintaro, explaining that he could end up being one of the more notable international players to play in the college ranks.
"We are excited to welcome Rintaro into our Stanford family," coach David Esquer said in February. "He may be the most high-profile international prospect to play college baseball in the United States in a long time. His power bat plays right into our style of play, and we look forward to him contributing immediately to help us achieve our goals of competing for and winning national titles."
He won't make his debut until next season, but he is currently with the team and on Thursday Stanford fans got their first glimpse of him taking batting practice and there is a lot to look forward to.
The Cardinal could really use his powerful bat in the lineup this season, as they have struggled to produce on offense like they have in the past few seasons that saw them make three-straight College World Series appearances. The lineup was so stellar last season that five position players were drafted, which has thrusted a handful of young players into the lineup. It also hurt tremendously to lose Braden Montgomery to Texas A&M, as he currently ranks No. 4 in the country for home runs with 17.
Sasaki will provide some major power in the middle of the lineup next year, and all of the underclassmen that are being thrown into the fire this year will have that much more confidence.
