“No Negotiations, No Apologies…” Rintaro Sasaki’s Management Company Was “Furious” Over Reports of His Move to the Marlins…!

“I have not yet decided on my future path.”

On July 19, infielder Rintaro Sasaki (21), a student at Stanford University, held a press conference in Hanamaki City, Iwate Prefecture, and announced that he would sign with the Marlins, who selected him in the eighth round (235th overall) of the MLB Draft.

“I ultimately decided on this path with the desire to live a life where I choose—not whether I succeeded or failed, but whether I took on the challenge or not—based on my own values.”

At the start of the press conference, which began at 2:00 p.m., Sasaki expressed his extraordinary determination regarding his decision to join the Marlins, a move on which he has staked his baseball career.During his time at Hanamaki Higashi High School, he hit a career total of 140 home runs, and because he had always been strongly committed to playing in the majors, he went on to attend Stanford University. He hit seven home runs as a freshman and has already hit 16 this year; in June, he showcased his incredible power at the “Draft Combine,” an event for Major League Draft prospects.

“Sasaki was selected as the first overall pick by the SoftBank Hawks in last fall’s NPB draft but deferred his decision. He had three options: the Hawks, the Marlins, or staying in college.In June, Sasaki toured the team’s facilities at Mizuho PayPay Dome in Fukuoka and Tamasta Chikugo, where he had a meal and a meeting with CBO Kenji Jojima (50) and others.

The team went all out, featuring not only Chairman Sadaharu Oh (86) and Manager Yuki Kokubo (54) but also Owner Masayoshi Son (68) in a pre-recorded video message. “The Hawks reportedly rated him as a first-round pick and indicated they would accept a future move to the majors via the posting system,” said a team official.

Amid this, on July 15, some media outlets broke the news with a flash report stating, “Sasaki to Join the Marlins,” before an official announcement. Although the report turned out to be correct, Sasaki’s agent was reportedly “furious” over the coverage.

“After meeting with CBO Jojima, Sasaki had repeatedly hinted at a move to the majors, saying, ‘Basically, it’s going to be them (the Marlins) …’ On top of that, he was selected in the MLB Draft higher than he had expected. That’s why the ‘confirmed’ reports came out… At the time of the report, his management team had not yet engaged in concrete negotiations with the Marlins, nor had they formally notified the Hawks of his plans.

Unlike in NPB, it’s not uncommon in MLB for drafted players to secure a signing bonus increase in the tens of millions of yen through negotiations. Sasaki’s camp likely wanted to use his NPB evaluation as leverage to negotiate for a higher signing bonus right up until the deadline.

However, the media reports revealed that the Marlins were Sasaki’s “top choice.”“‘Under these circumstances, I can’t negotiate with the Marlins. I wanted to apologize to the Hawks in advance,’ he reportedly said in exasperation. That’s precisely why he hurriedly issued a statement refuting the reports, saying, ‘I have not yet decided on my future,’” said an NPB official.

According to the official MLB website, the standard signing bonus for the 235th overall pick is $239,200 (approximately 38.75 million yen). In contrast, the standard signing bonus for the No. 1 pick in the NPB draft is 100 million yen.

With the deadline for negotiations with the Marlins approaching at 5:00 p.m. local time on the 27th (6:00 a.m. Japan time on the 28th), Sasaki is taking a new step toward his goal of becoming a “player who can compete on the world stage,” even as he finds himself caught up in “adult circumstances.”