Making his stateside debut in the MLB Draft League, Rintaro Sasaki provided an emphatic glimpse into what contributed to his high school home run record in Japan.

But after 25 games with the Trenton Thunder, the Stanford baseball recruit made the switch to the Appalachian League, and he hasn’t stopped his thunderous performances.

Sasaki appeared in his third game for the Greeneville Flyboys on Saturday. In the first inning, the 6-foot, 230-pound lefty tapped into his power stroke, pulling a 430-foot home run at 106.9 mph -- marking his first long ball in the Appalachian League and his fifth this summer.

The 19-year-old also drew two walks in a seven-inning 9-8 win over the Danville Otterbots.

Sasaki -- who slashed .221/.387/.395 with three doubles and 17 RBIs for the Thunder -- has shown an impressive strikeout-to-walk rate for both clubs, with 25 strikeouts to 23 walks for Trenton and five strikeouts to four walks for Greeneville.

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Sasaki will first be Draft eligible in 2026, after having begun his collegiate career at Stanford. Taking an unorthodox route in his pursuit of professional aspirations, the corner infielder considered multiple factors when forgoing his eligibility for Japan's posting system for pro players.

"When I was evaluating the doors that were open for me -- and fortunately, I had a lot of doors -- I considered which ones would be able to maximize my potential," Sasaki said via interpreter Chihiro Tsukamoto last week, sitting down for an interview with MLB.com. "That, combined with, I really have this intense passion and desire to play college baseball in the USA."

The Appalachian League's regular-season schedule runs through July 31. The 10-team summer collegiate baseball league is part of the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline.

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