Flyin’ Hawaiian Makes Impact Early On

The Charleston RiverDogs are looking to defend their first League Championship in franchise history. They wrapped up their first homestand on April 17 with a 5-4 record to start out the year.

2022 has presented its own challenges to the RiverDogs. This year’s team is much younger than last year’s championship team, and many are coming from the FCL Rays. One of those young players is Outfielder, Shane Sasaki.

Sasaki is 21 years old from Honolulu, Hawaii. The speedy outfielder was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays in the third round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft. The third-round falls on day two of the draft, which starts at 12 pm est. Because of the six-hour time difference between Hawaii and the east coast, Sasaki was forced to get up at 5 am that morning, which is tough for somebody that is not a morning person.

“I got the call from the Rays at about six in the morning,” said Sasaki. I was not completely locked in when they called me, so it did not hit me until an hour later that I was going to be a Major Leaguer.”

Despite the success on the field, baseball was not the sport that Sasaki enjoyed the most growing up. In fact, it was his least favorite sport growing up. He preferred football and basketball over baseball; however, he realized that baseball was the sport that he had the brightest future in, and a thumb injury while playing football his freshman year at Iolani High School is what led him to focus more on baseball.

Even though baseball was not his favorite sport, there was one player that Sasaki grew up watching and looked up to. “My favorite baseball player growing up was Manny Ramirez,” said Sasaki. “The game was boring for a while, but [he] had fun while playing the game and was fun to watch. It made the game fun again.”

While baseball may not be one of the main sports in the state of Hawaii, the state has seen a great amount of success over the years at the youth level. Honolulu has gone to Williamsport, Pennsylvania to play in the Little League World Series twice since 2018, winning it all in 2018, going 5-0, and placing third in the tournament in 2021, going 4-1.

Sasaki was committed to play baseball at Cal Poly in college, though he decided to sign with the Rays and report to the GCL site in Port Charlotte, Florida. That is where he met current RiverDogs Pitcher, Ben Peoples, who roomed with Sasaki in their first year of pro ball.

“He’s a really chill guy,” said Peoples. “There’s nothing bad to say about him. He’s a nice guy; outgoing. When we found out he is from Hawaii, it made a lot of sense because he seemed to have that chill, surfer vibe to him.”

The two bonded over video games, specifically NBA 2K, MLB The Show, and Rocket League. Peoples says that Sasaki is the best at NBA 2K, but he is the best at MLB The Show.

The two friends played the 2019 season with the GCL Rays. In 13 games with the GCL Rays, Sasaki struggled, hitting .182 with 18 strikeouts in 44 at bats.

Due to Covid-19, the 2020 minor league baseball season was cancelled. As a result, there were many players that lost a year of development due to the cancellation. The Rays, however, sent Sasaki to play the season in Australia to further his development in professional baseball. Sasaki again struggled, hitting .179 in the Australian Baseball League, but says he learned a lot from that year. He was one of the youngest guys in the league.

In 2021, though, he was sent back to what is now the Florida Coast League (FCL), which is where he found success. In 33 games and 144 plate appearances, he hit .290 two home runs and 16 RBI while also swiping 22 bases.

Sasaki’s speed is a perfect fit for the 2022 RiverDogs, who are very aggressive on the base paths. As of April 25, the team has 45 stolen bases combined. Of the 45 stolen bases, Sasaki has 18 of them, which not only leads the team, but all of minor league baseball. He is a perfect 18 for 18 in the stolen base department this season.

He has found himself a spot in the top of the order, hitting leadoff for a majority of the games that he has started. After a strong road trip, he is hitting .284 with six RBI and a .342 OBP coming into the homestand.

Sasaki and the RiverDogs caught fire on the road trip, winning five of six against the division leading Salem Red Sox. They also split the six-game series with the Fredericksburg Nationals.

The RiverDogs look to continue that success in the month of May, as they welcome the Fayetteville Woodpeckers into town on May 9th for a six-game series. This will be the first of three-home series in the month of May.