Stanford Baseball First Baseman Ranked No. 15 in the Nation at his Position

Rintaro Sasaki is considered a phenom, and ahead of his debut season, he received some high praise.

Jun 17, 2023; Omaha, NE, USA; The 2023 NCAA College World Series logo is pictured on the helmet of Stanford Cardinal second baseman Drew Bowser (2) during the third inning against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

One of college baseball's most intriguing rookies got some high praise ahead of the new season. On Friday, D1Baseball released its player position rankings ahead of the 2025 season, with Stanford first baseman, Rintaro Sasaki, being ranked as the No. 15 first baseman in the country.

Graduating from Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate, Japan, Sasaki then joined the Cardinal baseball program ahead of the 2024 season, but did not play in any games during the campaign.

Setting a Japanese high school record with 140 home runs over the course of his career, he was projected to be a top pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball draft, but opted to instead to play college baseball and signed an NLI with Stanford, taking his talents to the U.S.

A powerful bat, scouts also say that Sasaki is known for his patient approach at the plate, drawing a lot of walks and getting on base. Over the course of his high school career, he hit .413/.514/.808. A good fielder as well, Sasaki con cover a lot of range and makes the tough plays while manning first.

During Sasaki's time as a high school player, he helped lead his team to a quarterfinal and a semifinal finish in the national tournament, evolving into his school's most important players and becoming one of the most coveted international players.

Shohei Ohtani, arguably baseball's biggest star right now, also starred for Hanamaki-Higashi High School before spending the beginning of his pro career with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters ahead of his MLB career.

The Cardinal will enter the '25 season with high hopes for themselves, looking to make noise and turn heads in their first year in the ACC. Projected to finish 8th in the conference, the program will enter the season hungry to shatter expectations and be in contention to win their first national title since 1988.

Sasaki now comes to the United States looking to raise his stock as an MLB prospect, where playing for a strong baseball school like Stanford in a Power Four conference like the ACC could help majorly with that.

Coming off of a season in which the Cardinal missed the College World Series after three straight years of making it, Sasaki is determined to add a spark and be a major difference maker in the program's quest to return to national prominence.