Highly touted Stanford University slugger Rintaro Sasaki made an impressive debut in the MLB Draft League, one of the top amateur summer leagues in the United States, with a home run Tuesday.
The 19-year-old left-handed hitter, who skipped Japanese pro baseball's draft to play U.S. college baseball, went 2-for-5 with three RBIs in the Trenton Thunder's 11-1 rout of the Frederick Keys in the state of Maryland.
Sasaki, batting cleanup for the Trenton, New Jersey-based team, launched a two-run blast to right to put Trenton ahead 3-1 in the third inning.
He also had a run-scoring single in the sixth at Nymeo Field.
The 184-centimeter, 113-kilogram first baseman hit 140 home runs during his high school years in Japan, including those hit in practice games.
His father Hiroshi is a famous high school baseball manager, having coached Shohei Ohtani during the two-way star's time at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Iwate Prefecture.
The MLB Draft League is a six-team league featuring a split-season amateur-professional format.
The first half of the season features draft-eligible players aiming to improve their stock ahead of the annual MLB Draft in July.
