Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki will sign with the Miami Marlins and forgo a professional career in his home country. The Stanford product was picked by the Marlins in the eighth round of the MLB draft last week.
The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks had also selected him in the first round of the Nippon Professional Baseball draft. Sasaki fought back tears while announcing the decision at a news conference in his hometown on Sunday.
“More than anyone else, I believe I understand my own limitations and how much I still need to improve,” Sasaki said. “Even if this path ultimately turns out to be the wrong choice, I do not want to live with regret.”
The 21-year-old first baseman is Japan’s all-time high school home run leader with 140. He played two seasons at Stanford, hitting .262 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs as a sophomore last year.