MIAMI — The Miami Marlins selected Stanford slugger Rintaro Sasaki, a 21-year-old Japanese power hitter with family ties to superstar Shohei Ohtani, in the eighth round of the 2026 MLB Draft with the 235th overall pick.
Sasaki’s raw power was the draw for Marlins area scout Scott Fairbanks, who watched the first baseman crush 16 homers with a .952 OPS, 45 walks and just 50 strikeouts in his sophomore season at Stanford after posting seven homers and a .790 OPS as a freshman in 2025.
“Huge. It’s hard to find. That’s a big reason why I like him,” Fairbanks said of Sasaki’s power. “His name came up on the board. You look around, it’s just not out there, so it’s unbelievably valuable. So, when you can grab something like that, you just do it.”
Fairbanks pointed to Sasaki’s improved plate discipline as the key to his breakout. “His at-bats got better. He started getting to that big, huge power that we all know he has. I think there’s still room for even more. He’s become more of a complete hitter. I’d say that was the biggest difference from first year to a second year,” Fairbanks said.
Sasaki’s baseball pedigree runs deep. As a kid, he played for Toru Ohtani — Shohei Ohtani’s father — during his “Little Senior” days in Japan. Ohtani, in turn, played for Sasaki’s father, Hiroshi Sasaki, at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate, Japan. Projected as the No. 1 selection in the 2024 NPB Draft, Sasaki chose Stanford instead, bypassing a path that would have required nine years to become an international free agent.
The pick sets up a three-way decision for Sasaki: sign with the Marlins, return to Stanford or head to Nippon Professional Baseball, where both the Yokohama DeNA BayStars and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks selected him with their first-round pick last October before Fukuoka won exclusive negotiating rights. Sasaki also plays first base, a position the Marlins say lacks depth in their system.
“I feel like I found a great way for Japanese guys from high school, how we’re going to step up to a high level. People coming to U.S. college, going to pro baseball — I think it’s great,” Sasaki said before the draft.
Frankie Piliere, the Marlins’ vice president of amateur forecasting and player evaluation initiatives, acknowledged the complexity of the situation. “Rintaro has a lot of good options, and I think he’ll choose the one that’s best for him. He’s put himself in a position where he can make those great choices,” Piliere said. “Not many of those players have those types of outstanding options, but we’ll see. He’s put himself in a great spot, and excited to see what he decides.”
The Marlins are expected to pitch Sasaki on beginning his professional career immediately as the club works through its remaining draft selections and moves toward signing-period negotiations.