Rintaro Sasaki poses for photos at the Sunken Diamond baseball field at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif.,on May 31, 2024. STANFORD, Calif. — When home run balls start landing on the Stanford football team’s practice grass way beyond the wall in right-center field, everybody knows new Japanese slugger Rintaro Sasaki must be taking batting practice at nearby Sunken Diamond.
“He’s fired up for it,” said Esquer, the seventh-year Stanford coach who previously spent 18 seasons at rival California. “He wants to play.” Another key message from his father: “I have to earn it. Nothing comes free,” Sasaki shared during a recent interview at Sunken Diamond, Stanford’s ballpark. Yet major league teams have agreed to strict spending limits on international players under 25 years old. That’s why Ohtani, who left Japan at 23, signed with the Los Angeles Angels for just more than $2.3 million in 2017.
Longtime family friend Junpei Tomonaga offers assistance as an interpreter when Sasaki needs it, but he is determined to do this on his own sooner than later. “Stanford is a leading school in America,” he said. “I still have big respect for the other schools I visited.”
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