The MLB Draft League is a unique opportunity for amateur players to improve their baseball skills in preparation for a career in professional baseball. Created in 2021, the league has an 80-game regular season split in two. The first 35 games operate as a summer collegiate baseball league with players with draft eligibility, while professional players who no longer hold amateur status compete in the final 45 games.
Catcher Chris Reeder played six seasons of Division III college baseball at the College of New Jersey and spent the 2024 MLB Draft League season with the Trenton Thunder, the former Double-A affiliate for the New York Yankees from 2003-20.
Chris Reeder singles on a line drive to send John Taylor home! pic.twitter.com/wPbKsJey7w
— Trenton Thunder⚡ (@TrentonThunder) July 13, 2024
One of Reeder’s teammates on the Thunder this season was Rintaro Sasaki, a 19-year-old Japanese slugger who set an all-time Japanese high school baseball record for home runs with 140 at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Hanamaki, Japan. Sasaki opted to skip the Nippon Professional Baseball Draft and committed to Stanford University to experience school and college baseball in the United States.
Hiroshi Sasaki, Rintaro’s father, is the head coach of the Hanamaki Higashi High School baseball team and has coached notable alums, including Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Houston Astros starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.
Reeder, 24, spoke with World Baseball Network about his experience in the MLB Draft League, being teammates with Sasaki, and what the future holds for his baseball career.
“The level of talent, stadiums, fans, travel, teammates, and everything made it an unbelievable experience,” Reeder told World Baseball Network about the MLB Draft League. “As a little kid, you dream about playing at the highest levels of baseball, and I was blessed with the opportunity to do so with the Trenton Thunder.
Reeder, a New Jersey native, frequently visited Trenton Thunder Ballpark as a child when the Thunder were the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate.
“Growing up, my family and I would attend Thunder games regularly during the summer, being that we lived so close and were Yankee fans, so to be able to play in the stadium I visited so often and to put on the uniform every day was a full circle moment.”
When Reeder’s teammate Sasaki was mentioned, the catcher was quickly impressed with his hitting skills and personality.
“Seeing the videos and articles about Rintaro’s baseball play, the home run records, and everything else, you can see he is one heck of a ballplayer,” said Reeder. “When he joined the team, it was quickly confirmed that he can play with the best of them… Rintaro’s personality was contagious; he was always happy and having fun in the clubhouse or field.”
Reeder realizes that Sasaki’s journey to the United States is not an easy transition and believes all Sasaki needs to do is trust the process.
