On this episode of RINTARO, Daron Vaught introduces a member of Stanford's baseball program labeled by the coaches as a "blessing in disguise" when recruiting Rintaro Sasaki and helping him acclimate to his new life in the U.S.

Rintaro Sasaki's teammates (and others) also explain the moments at which they realized just how famous the Japanese superstar is and the level of celebrity he brought with him to Palo Alto.

RINTARO is part of the D1Baseball Podcast Network and is hosted and produced by Daron Vaught.

Art by Kev Roché (kevdraws.com)

Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech

After a very extended hiatus, Shotgun Spratling is back on The D1Baseball Podcast feed with his Sidearm Delivery episodes. In this first episode of 2025, Shotgun heads virtually up to Corvallis to chat with Oregon State head coach Mitch Canham.

Later, D1Baseball national writer Mike Rooney joins the show to talk about the diaspora of the former Pac-12, getting his take on Oregon State as an independent as well as where the other former Pacific-12 programs will fit in their new conferences. We’ll also take a look at some of the intriguing mid major programs on the West Coast this year, including UC Santa Barbara looking to continue its dominance in the Big West.

After committing to Stanford, Rintaro Sasaki enrolled early and began his collegiate experience in the spring of 2024.

On this episode of RINTARO, Daron Vaught talks to Rintaro's Stanford coaches and teammates about their first impressions of the Japanese phenom as a player, as well as their observations of his adjustments to life as a student-athlete in Palo Alto.

RINTARO is part of the D1Baseball Podcast Network and is hosted and produced by Daron Vaught.

Art by Kev Roché (kevdraws.com)

Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech

So Japan's top baseball prospect, Rintaro Sasaki, had decided to forego a professional career in his home country's top league in order to play collegiately in the United States. Then what?

On this episode of RINTARO, Daron Vaught speaks with Stanford head coach David Esquer and recruiting coordinator Thomas Eager, plus Cardinal players Luke Lavin and Malcolm Moore, about Rintaro's recruitment and visit to campus in Palo Alto prior to his commitment.

RINTARO is part of the D1Baseball Podcast Network and is hosted and produced by Daron Vaught.

Art by Kev Roché (kevdraws.com)

Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech

On this episode of The D1Baseball Podcast, Mike Rooney, Kendall Rogers, Aaron Fitt and Joe Healy discuss the 10 teams that just missed the top 25 rankings, including non-P4 stalwarts East Carolina and Southern Miss, and talk about their favorite players and toughest omissions from the recently-released All-American teams.

00:00 Welcome to the D1 Baseball Podcast
01:53 Food Debates and Personal Flag Plants
07:03 College Baseball Teams Analysis
07:52 Deep Dive into Alabama and Auburn
13:14 Spotlight on College of Charleston
16:22 UConn and East Carolina Insights
21:28 Louisville and Oklahoma Predictions
29:07 Southern Miss Lineup and Pitching Analysis
31:53 Stanford's Potential and Challenges
36:53 West Virginia's Key Players and Big 12 Overview
42:42 All-America Highlights

D1Baseball is the #1 source for college baseball. Subscribe to our show to get the best college baseball podcast straight to your Apple Podcasts or Spotify feed all year round. Reviews and 5-star ratings are greatly appreciated!

Rintaro Sasaki hit the most home runs of any high school player in Japanese history at Hanamaki Higashi High School, where his father Hiroshi is the head coach and helped produce major league stars Shohei Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi. Rintaro would have been the most sought-after prospect in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top league in Japan.

Instead of going from high school to NPB, though, Rintaro will begin his collegiate baseball career stateside this spring for the Cardinal of Stanford University.

In this episode, Daron Vaught discusses Rintaro's decision, the elements of its potential successes, and its possible pitfalls with Yuri Karasawa (Yakyu Cosmopolitan).

RINTARO is part of the D1Baseball Podcast Network and is hosted and produced by Daron Vaught.

Art by Kev Roché (kevdraws.com)

Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech

On this episode of The D1Baseball Podcast, Mike Rooney is joined by Gabe Feldman, the director of the Tulane Sports Law Program. Feldman is one of the foremost experts on the impending House Settlement. They cover the whys behind the House Settlement, the strategy of a 38-man fall roster in baseball, the viability of Deloitte’s role in governing NIL, and the differences between opting in or out of the settlement. Finally, they touched on the role of Title IX in all of this.

D1Baseball is the #1 source for college baseball. Subscribe to our show to get the best college baseball podcast straight to your Apple Podcasts or Spotify feed all year round. Reviews and 5-star ratings are greatly appreciated!

On this episode of The D1Baseball Podcast, Mike Rooney, Aaron Fitt, Kendall Rogers and Joe Healy discuss the preseason top 25 rankings. They talk about Texas A&M's juggernaut roster, the deadlock of SEC teams at 3-5 in the rankings, how to separate the ACC clubs in the middle and who we're buying at the back end of the rankings.

00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Shoutout
01:03 ACC Extra and Best Inventions Discussion
08:00 Preseason Rankings Overview
09:53 Top Teams Breakdown: Texas A&M and Virginia
15:02 SEC Powerhouses: LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas
23:32 North Carolina and Oregon State Analysis
27:02 Georgia, Florida State, and Florida Breakdowns
34:01 ACC Row: Duke, NC State, Wake Forest and Clemson
37:02 Oregon's Strong Roster and Motivated Team
40:45 Intriguing Teams: Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Texas and DBU
48:38 West Coast Alley and Flyers: Arizona, UCSB, TCU, Nebraska, and Troy
57:28 Wrapping Up: Final Thoughts

D1Baseball is the #1 source for college baseball. Subscribe to our show to get the best college baseball podcast straight to your Apple Podcasts or Spotify feed all year round. Reviews and 5-star ratings are greatly appreciated!