Stanford University slugger Rintaro Sasaki will sign with the Miami Marlins, spurning a far more lucrative contract to play in Japan in favor of pursuing his Major League Baseball dream, sources said July 15.

The decision resolves months of speculation for the 21-year-old infielder, who was the first-round draft pick of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks in October before the Marlines selected him in the eighth round of the MLB draft on July 12.

Sasaki is now poised to accept a signing bonus with a slot value of $239,200 (approximately 39 million yen).

As the Hawks’ top pick, he was positioned to receive Nippon Professional Baseball’s maximum rookie deal of 100 million yen plus 50 million yen in incentives.

An alumnus of Hanamaki Higashi High School—the same as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar Shohei Ohtani—Sasaki set a Japanese record with 140 high school home runs.

He bypassed Japan’s pro league after graduation to attend Stanford, stating that he wanted to “expand the possibilities in my life” by balancing academics and baseball.

In his sophomore season with the Cardinal this year, he hit .262 with 16 home runs and 47 RBIs in 54 games.

The intense interest in Sasaki was evident in early July, when SoftBank executives offered him the team’s coveted jersey number 1.

A representative for Sasaki’s management told reporters on July 13 that he was weighing three options—the Hawks, the Marlins, or returning to Stanford—and that “nothing has been decided yet.”

According to the representative, Sasaki watched the MLB draft from a hotel in his hometown of Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture.

When the Marlins’ pick was announced, “For a moment his face seemed to break into a smile, but it immediately returned to a sharp, serious expression.”

The deadline for Sasaki to sign with the Marlins is 5 p.m. Eastern Time on July 27.

His negotiating rights with the SoftBank Hawks expire on July 31.

A formal announcement is expected soon.