Rintaro Sasaki, junior to Shohei Ohtani, received the first negotiation rights from the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the NPB draft.

The NPB draft took place yesterday. Rintaro Sasaki, a strong batter studying at Stanford University, was selected as the first pick by both the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks and Yokohama DeNA BayStars, with SoftBank ultimately winning the negotiation rights in the lottery. Sadaharu Oh, the 85-year-old world home run leader representing SoftBank, expressed great relief and said in an interview, “We are very happy to have obtained the negotiation rights. His greatest appeal is undoubtedly his power hitting, which is a natural talent not easily developed later. If he joins our team, I hope he can further develop this ability and become a key player for us.”

Sadaharu Oh then spoke with Rintaro Sasaki, saying, “He was very happy, which made me glad as well. He also thanked me. I told him that if he joins SoftBank, I hope we can work together towards ambitious goals.”

During his three years at Hanamaki Higashi High School, Rintaro Sasaki hit a total of 140 home runs, setting the highest record in Japanese high school history. In his senior year, he chose to forgo entering professional baseball in Japan and instead enrolled at Stanford University in the fall of 2024. His father, Hiroshi Sasaki, is the head coach of the school's baseball team and has trained star players such as Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi.

Rintaro Sasaki is currently a sophomore at Stanford University and is the first player in NPB history to be drafted while studying in the United States. According to regulations, the SoftBank Hawks must complete the contract by July next year for him to join, though he may also opt to pursue a career in Major League Baseball (MLB).