The Future of Nippon Professional Baseball as Players are Leaving for The U.S.

Japan has been an important figure in the world of baseball since the 1870s when they started playing it. Since then, we’ve seen roughly 67 Japanese players emigrate to the U.S to play in the MLB. While it wasn’t always considered taboo - it was largely quite a rarity, with most Japanese players preferring to play at home.

However, very recently, a young Japanese player named Rintaro Sasaki has decided to ship abroad to America and will aim to draft into the MLB. While this may still be a rarity in Japanese culture, it’s made all the more rare by the fact that Sasaki was widely touted as being one of the best young up-and-coming players in the Japanese High School League. Experts are now weighing in what this could mean for the future of Japan’s up-and-coming stars.

Who is Rintaro Sasaki?

Rintaro Sasaki is a Japanese first-baseman who has caused quite a stir in the local Japanese high-school league. At only 17 years old, young Sasaki has already managed to secure a record in Japan for home runs by hitting 140 so far.

This bright young star was largely expected to be the new number one pick in the NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) league but has, rather unexpectedly, decided to forgo his draft for the NPB and skip straight to the MLB to pursue his dream of playing in America.

The star has made it clear that he will not bother partaking in the NPB in any way and has instead opted to enroll at an American college, where he hopes to enter into the American college league and from there, graduate to the MLB later in life.

What Makes This Case Extraordinary?

While it might not be that unusual to see a Japanese player joining the American league for greater prestige and in some cases, better pay, it is unheard of for them to have not played in the NPB before doing so.

Shohei Ohtani, one of the youngest Japanese baseball players to make it in the big leagues in America set a record when he was enlisted to the Los Angeles Angels back in 2018. However, before doing so, he did qualify to play in the NPB and even had a number of games with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighers over the course of 4 years before making the move to the US.

So, many speculate that Sasaki may be throwing himself into the deep end with his decision, but the athlete clearly seems up to the challenge. Despite his father’s–who is actually a baseball coach at Sasaki’s high school–dreams, Sasaki has chosen to go to America to pursue his own dreams, showing that the young baseball talent is dead set on following his heart.

Sasaki will only be able to qualify for drafting in 2027, according to ESPN columnist jeff Passan, so he will have to make do in the college leagues until then. However, there is one other issue in the way of Sasaki’s dream and that is that he will be going to the States on an F1 visa - which is explicitly for studying only.

This means that Sasaki will not be able to find any form of employment outside of his college until he is drafted, and likely means that he will be stuck in the college league until he is offered a draft and can make it into a team. This could be quite tricky to balance for the youth, but seeing how dedicated he his to following his dreams, it is likely that he will find a way to make it happen.

The Difference Between NPB and MLB

There are a few technical differences between the way baseball is played in Japan and how it’s played in the USA, which Sasaki and others who might follow in his footsteps will have to note. Some of these are:

• American baseball is a lot more competitive and is often referred to as ‘the big leagues’ for these reasons.
• In Japan, the fields are also smaller
• The ball is also slightly smaller
• Ties can happen in Japanese games, not American games
• Japan limits the amount of foreign players allowed on a team

However, one of the biggest differences is that betting on sports like baseball is much bigger in America than in Japan, as betting culture in America is generally a lot more accepted and as a result, much more lucrative.

There are a lot more sites available to fans of the sport in America than in Japan, although there are a growing number of popular bookmakers among Japanese players, mainly based overseas. While sports betting has been growing quite steadily in Japan over the last few years, with around 3% of Japanese citizens claiming they’ve partaken in some form of gambling over the course of their lives, the government has still largely mandated that the act of betting of sports or in casinos be forbidden in Japan.

Beyond the technical differences between NPB and MLB, the cultural attitude towards the game differs as well. In Japan, emphasis is often placed on teamwork, discipline, and collective strategies, whereas American baseball is known for its individual star performances and emphasis on powerful hitting. This could mean that Japanese players transitioning to MLB might need to adjust not only to the technical differences but also to a new approach to the game.

The different cultural attitudes extend to the betting arenas too. As the betting culture in America is more entrenched and accepted, it means a heightened level of scrutiny for players like Sasaki. Every performance, every decision on and off the field, could be examined in relation to its potential betting implications. For Japanese players, this might be a new experience, given that their home country has a relatively muted betting scene.

For Japanese fans and players alike, these differences in betting cultures might translate to increased pressures. Players in the MLB might feel the weight of expectations from not just fans but also from the vast number of punters who have placed their bets on their performances. On the flip side, as more Japanese players venture into MLB, Japanese punters might begin to engage more with offshore betting sites to support their favourite players.

In the long run, if more Japanese prodigies like Sasaki opt for the MLB over the NPB, it could potentially prompt Japan to reconsider its stance on sports betting, especially if fans continue to engage with overseas bookmakers.

At the end of the day, there are going to be numerous difficulties for Sasaki and those who might succeed him to overcome to be successful in the MLB, and it’s perhaps for these reasons that more Japanese players haven’t jumped straight from high school baseball in Japan to the Major League in the US.