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STANFORD BOUND. Rintaro Sasaki of Japan pitches during a Pool B game against the Czech Republic at the World Baseball Classic at the Tokyo Dome in Japan in this March 11, 2023 file photo. The high school baseball star has signed a national letter of intent to play at Stanford in 2025, according to the college. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

From The Asian Reporter, V34, #3 (March 4, 2024), page 14.

Rintaro Sasaki, projected No. 1 pick in Japanese pro draft, decides to play baseball at Stanford

By Stephen Wade

The Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. — Japanese high school baseball star Rintaro Sasaki has signed a national letter of intent to play at Stanford in 2025, according to the college.

Sasaki will graduate in March from Hanamaki-Higashi High School, the school that produced major league star Shohei Ohtani. Sasaki hit a Japanese high school record of 140 home runs and was projected to be the No. 1 pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball Draft, but decided to go to a U.S. college.

"We are excited to welcome Rintaro into our Stanford family," coach David Esquer said. "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."

Stanford has played in three consecutive College World Series.

Sasaki has walked twice as many times as he has struck out and has a career batting average of .413, with a .514 on-base percentage and .808 slugging percentage.

The pitcher threw a perfect game on April 10, 2022, against the Orix Buffaloes, and struck out 19 batters — 13 in a row at one point. In the next start on April 17, he pitched eight perfect innings against the Nippon-Ham Fighters before he was pulled for cautionary reasons. He had 14 strikeouts in that outing, including striking out the side in the eighth and showing off a 101 mph fastball.

Sasaki also helped Japan win last year’s World Baseball Classic.

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