By ALANIS THAMES<\/p>\n
MIAMI (AP) \u2014 Rintaro Sasaki was ready to turn his long-awaited dream into a reality.<\/p>\n
The Japanese slugger had a choice to make. He could return to Stanford, where he played college baseball for two seasons. He could pursue a pro career in his home country, where was selected last October by the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in the first round of the Nippon Professional Baseball draft. <\/p>\n
Or, he could sign with Major League Baseball\u2019s Miami Marlins, who selected him in the eighth round of the amateur draft<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t an easy decision for Sasaki, but it was ultimately a befitting one.<\/p>\n \u201cMy dream is always going to be how I\u2019m going to make it to big the leagues as soon as possible,\u201d Sasaki said Thursday, wearing a Marlins jersey. \u201cThat\u2019s a big reason for choosing Miami. It\u2019s giving me a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The Marlins introduced Sasaki on Thursday after he announced earlier this week that he would forgo a pro career in Japan to sign with Miami. Sasaki\u2019s deal with the Marlins is for $210,200.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what the result will be,\u201d Sasaki said in Japanese, \u201cand of course I\u2019m aiming for the major stage, and I\u2019m thinking about getting up there. I\u2019ve chosen this path, so I\u2019m going to do my best to do what I can do, and to do everything I can to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n Sasaki made the surprising jump from playing high school ball in Japan to attending an American college, forgoing Japan\u2019s professional pipeline to potentially accelerate his path toward the majors. He played under Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani\u2019s father, Toru, and is Japan\u2019s all-time high school home run leader with 140. <\/p>\n The 21-year-old first baseman played two seasons<\/a> at Stanford, hitting .262 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs as a sophomore last year. <\/p>\n