Marlins' Rintaro Sasaki has huge MLB, NPB decision to make as all-time Japanese record holder

Rintaro Sasaki isn't related to Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki, but he comes to MLB with lots of fanfare of his own.

The Marlins drafted Rintaro Sasaki in the eighth round of the 2026 MLB Draft with the No. 235 overall pick on Sunday.

He comes from Stanford University, where he hit 16 home runs this season with a .952 OPS.

Sasaki's fame far predates his time with the Cardinal, though. He set Japan's all-time high school baseball home runs record -- and given the stage that high school baseball holds in Japan, he's a national celebrity in that country.

His power is prodigious, having blasted a 458-foot home run during the MLB Draft Combine.

"It’s hard to convey just how big of a star Sasaki is in his native Japan," MLB.com's Jesse Borek wrote before the draft. "He reached celebrity status as a teenager for his prodigious power exploits and nearly everything he does on the field has become a social media sensation -- his more than 86,000 followers on Instagram are more than the two top 2026 Draft prospects Grady Emerson (No. 1) and Roch Cholowsky (No. 2) combined. He was the subject of the MLB Pipeline Instagram post that received the highest number of total impressions (1.77 million) in 2024, outperforming Paul Skenes, Jackson Holliday and other famed prospects from that year."

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Sasaki's hype doesn't make it easy on his next step, though.

He could sign with the Marlins and start a career in their minor league system.

He could also sign with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, who picked him in the first round of last October's NPB Draft in Japan.

In both places, Sasaki could continue to grow as a ballplayer and work on becoming a star. It'll be up to him to choose what path he wants.

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