Rintaro Sasaki hit the most home runs of any high school player in Japanese history at Hanamaki Higashi High School, where his father Hiroshi is the head coach and helped produce major league stars Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi. Rintaro would have been the most sought-after prospect in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top league in Japan.

Instead of going from high school to NPB, though, Rintaro will begin his collegiate baseball career stateside this spring for the Cardinal of Stanford University.

In this episode, Daron Vaught discusses Rintaro's decision, the elements of its potential successes, and its possible pitfalls with Yuri Karasawa (Yakyu Cosmopolitan).

RINTARO is part of the D1Baseball Podcast Network and is hosted and produced by Daron Vaught.

Art by Kev Roché (kevdraws.com)

Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech

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