{"id":124570,"date":"2026-06-26T22:38:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=124570"},"modified":"2026-06-26T22:38:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T02:38:33","slug":"rintaro-sasaki-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/26\/rintaro-sasaki-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Road Leads Rintaro Sasaki to the 2026 MLB Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no cookie-cutter approach to reaching professional baseball. Just ask former Stanford Cardinal Rintaro\u00a0Sasaki<\/a>. While dominating high school baseball in Japan, Sasaki made the unheard-of decision of skipping the Nippon Professional Baseball league draft to come to America and play college baseball at Stanford.<\/p>\n

Since arriving in America, Sasaki has gotten a lot of attention, which should help prepare him for the next step in his journey, the 2026 MLB Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rintaro Sasaki’s Unique Path<\/h2>\n
\"Stanford
Mar 1, 2025; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal first baseman Rintaro Sasaki (3) reacts after the final out of the game against the Xavier Musketeers at Sunken Diamond. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sasaki made landfall in Palo Alto, California, in 2024, but he did not suit up for the Stanford Cardinals right away. During the ’24 season, Sasaki was mainly working on getting comfortable with living in America and the routine of being a student-athlete. While the 6’1″ first baseman was on the sideline during the season, that did not stop scouts from trying to catch a glimpse of the Japanese phenom take swings in the batting cage, just to get a sneak peek of his rumored elite power.<\/p>\n

After spending his first few months in America on the West Coast, when the 2024 season came to a close, the Cardinals sent Sasaki to Trenton, New Jersey, for his first taste of action against other college players. Sasaki’s arrival was drawing a lot of extra attention to the Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League<\/a>, and during his 26 games there, he would hit .221 with four home runs and a .783 OPS. Before the summer was over, Sasaki would then suit up for the Greenville Flyboys of the Appalachian League.<\/p>\n

With more reps under his belt, Sasaki ended the summer with a .391 average and 1.508 OPS in nine games with the Flyboys, leading to Baseball America<\/a> naming him the best freshman in college baseball before the 2025 season. Sasaki would go on to play 52 games in his freshman campaign, and while he did not have the season many expected of someone dubbed a phenom, he still managed a .790 OPS with seven home runs and 41 RBIs.<\/p>\n

Following his first full season of college baseball, Sasaki headed back east to the infamous Cape Cod League, where he played ten games for the Cotuit Kettleers. In that span, Sasaki hit just .107, and while that may have concerned some scouts in attendance, it did not scare two NPB teams from drafting him in the first round of the 2025 NPB Draft in October.<\/p>\n

While the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks ultimately won the rights to negotiate with Sasaki, Sasaki returned to Stanford for the 2026 season. In 54 games, the left-handed slugger looked far more comfortable, launching 16 home runs and posting a 106 wRC+.<\/p>\n

The Draft Outlook of Rintaro Sasaki<\/h2>\n
\"Stanford
Mar 1, 2025; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal first baseman Rintaro Sasaki (3) throws during the eighth inning against the Xavier Musketeers at Sunken Diamond. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the 2026 season started, Sasaki was not listed on Perfect Game’s Top-300 Draft Prospect list, as his buzz had been quieted down since landing in Palo Alto. The light tower power that was promised with Sasaki had only come in flashes up until the ’26 season, but with 16 home runs, a .952 OPS, and a career-best 45 walks during the season, Sasaki’s arrow started to change direction.<\/p>\n

As the MLB Draft is now just a few weeks away, Sasaki’s draft stock<\/a> is the highest it’s been in quite some time, courtesy of a stellar performance at the MLB Draft Combine<\/a>. Stepping into the batter’s box early on day one of the event, Sasaki posted a max exit velocity of 115.4 MPH, which was the best in his group. On top of that, the former high school superstar blasted home runs that traveled 434 and 458 feet, giving scouts a reason to daydream about his ceiling as a hitter.<\/p>\n

Now, even with that performance, Sasaki’s defensive ability and overall inconsistency throughout college will likely keep him from being the top draft pick many projected when he arrived at Stanford. Depending on where you look, Sasaki is projected to come off the board as early as the fifth round or as late as the 12th round. The later he falls, the more likely he is to negotiate with the Softbank Hawks.<\/p>\n

Regardless of who he signs with, Sasaki’s journey has featured considerable adversity, which will only help him navigate the ups and downs of professional baseball.<\/p>\n

Main Image Credit:<\/strong> Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no cookie-cutter approach to reaching professional baseball. Just ask former Stanford Cardinal Rintaro\u00a0Sasaki. While dominating high school baseball in Japan, Sasaki made the unheard-of decision of skipping the Nippon Professional Baseball league draft to come to America and play college baseball at Stanford. Since arriving in America, Sasaki has gotten a lot of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5819,"featured_media":124615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,29143,29576],"tags":[1290,29577,29624],"class_list":["post-124570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mlb-draft","category-ncaa-baseball","tag-mlb-draft","tag-ncaa","tag-rintaro-sasaki"],"modified_by":"Matthew Nethercott, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124570"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124618,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124570\/revisions\/124618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}