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Baseball: Stanford slugger Sasaki chooses MLB path, to join Marlins

On Sunday, Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki announced he will sign with the Miami Marlins, turning down an offer from the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks after being selected by both clubs.
The 21-year-old infielder was selected as the first pick by the Hawks in the 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball draft, while the Marlins chose him 235th overall in the Major League Baseball amateur draft earlier this month.
"The desire to challenge myself in the United States prevailed," Sasaki said. He played two seasons at Stanford, batting.262 with 16 home runs in 54 games this season.
Fighting back tears during a press conference in Hanamaki, Sasaki expressed gratitude to the Fukuoka-based club and declared, "I'm ready to fight my way up from the minors, no matter how long it takes."
Japan's all-time high school home run leader with 140, Sasaki previously played under Toru Ohtani, father of Shohei Ohtani, and faced a July 27 deadline to finalize his agreement with the Marlins.

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