‘AIEA — Winter break is ending soon. In a few days, Sean Yamaguchi is flying back to frigid Reno, where the star University of Nevada sophomore will continue his collegiate baseball career. Other college students Yamaguchi's age spending the holidays at home are likely to be enjoying an afternoon of frivolity at the beach or a related activity, basking in the relative warmth of the Islands. But on this day, Yamaguchi is partaking in a sacred family tradition.
Mike Yamaguchi, his wife Leina and their two sons, Michael and Sean, have spent countless hours over the years at a park near the family's ‘Aiea home, where the sessions double as hitting training and family time. Michael and Sean take turns swinging, then the entire family would pick up baseballs in the outfield. Sometimes, the family dog would come. When others came to join, Leina would bring snacks.
Each park session brought Michael and Sean closer to their baseball dreams. Michael went on to play collegiately at Saint Martin's University, a Division II school in Washington, from 2021 to 2023. Sean Yamaguchi's baseball story is still being written, though his resume boasts Little League World Series star, state Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior at Saint Louis in 2024 and Mountain West Freshman of the Year in 2025.
Add legitimate MLB Draft prospect twice to the list, where Yamaguchi turned down interest after high school in order to go to college. In 2026, he'll be a draft-eligible sophomore. Yamaguchi is a prime candidate to hear his name called somewhere in July's 20 rounds, where he could then sign with the team that picks him and officially start his professional career.
There's a lot for Yamaguchi to consider as he embarks on the most important year of his baseball career to date, which is why days at the park are vital. The weather is picture perfect on this day. Nobody else is waiting around the baseball diamond, a rarity at this park, where the only noise disturbing the peace is the sound emanating from Yamaguchi's metal bat, with big brother throwing the pitches.
"It is exciting," Yamaguchi told Aloha State Daily of the potential start to his pro career. "Once the summer hits, it's going to start to feel a lot more real. But right now, I can only focus on just getting better every day. I honestly believe hard work pays off, and I think if you just keep doing that and keep stacking the good days and treat every day like day one, I think I'll be in a good spot."
Built in the backyard
Sean Yamaguchi's rise to baseball prominence didn't begin at the Little League World Series. It began in the backyard, where his tools were discovered and harnessed.
To an outsider, the most distinct part of the Yamaguchi home, which looks more like a compound, is the outdoor batting cage. Built by Leina's father, the cage is where Michael and Sean spent hours on end perfecting their swings. With built-in lights, the boys could be in there well into the night.
"They would be there every night, as long as they did their homework. Sean would lie," said Mike Yamaguchi with a chuckle. Mike also recalled how neighbors could certainly hear the echoes but would hardly complain.
Before Sean Yamaguchi looked up to the pros, he looked up to Michael. He'd sit in the stands, cheering big brother on, hoping to hit home runs in the same leagues one day. With Michael showing Sean the way, little brother excelled in the sport. It wasn't long until Sean was playing above his age group and playing on the same teams as Michael.
Hitting dingers was fun, and there were a lot of them, but Mike Yamaguchi says his boys also spent a large portion of time working on fielding in the cage at home. Hitting at the park also became routine, because the boys also had to learn how to hit in all areas of the field and weren't able to see the ball travel as well in the cage.
Little League dreams
Honolulu Little League manager Gerald Oda hadn't met Sean Yamaguchi yet, but he had certainly heard of his 10U team's prowess. In addition to Yamaguchi, his team featured players such as future Little League World Series standouts Jace Souza, Mana Lau Kong, Aukai Kea, and even current Oregon quarterback Dylan Raiola. The following year, when Yamaguchi was playing in a tournament with ‘Iolani's 11U team, Oda was impressed by a pair of extra base hits he belted to right center — kids that age tend to pull the ball.
"He wasn't the fastest guy, he obviously wasn't the biggest guy, but he just had a good nose to the ball and he could hit," Oda recalled.
Yamaguchi and Oda still had't met until Yamaguchi introduced himself unprompted after the game.
"This kid gets it. He's only 11 years old, but what impressed me the most, the fact that he went out of his way to talk to me," Oda said. "That tells you what kind of kid this kid is, and of course, the parents. It very, very rarely happens where a kid will just walk up to me and just shake my hand. That's not normal for a kid that young to do that. And then we had an opportunity to pick him up later on."
Yamaguchi was perhaps the face of a Honolulu Little League team that went all the way to the 2018 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. and won. His charisma was displayed during off the field moments on ESPN, endearing the team to the world and providing hope for a state that was preparing for a potentially catastrophic hurricane. He also happened to be one of the star players, batting .400 with a grand slam while serving as the team's 3-hole hitter. He even pitched, refusing to give up a run in his two relief appearances.
While the Little League World Series gains massive popularity in Hawai‘i when a team from the Islands makes it to Williamsport, the event is not without its detractors. For decades, the argument has been made against having 11- and 12-year-old kids play in a stadium that holds 45,000 in front of a network that televises it to millions of viewers worldwide. All the while, since the event runs in late August, the kids are missing school.
"Once in a while, you look up and you see all those people, and you're like, 'Dude, this is kind of crazy.' And then you look back down at your shoes and at the dirt, and it's just baseball," Yamaguchi said. "We're just gonna go out there and have fun. And that's the best advice I ever got from Coach Gerald and them, is go out there, take a deep breath, look around and just feel like this is why you play baseball. You didn't play baseball for the cameras, for the fans, you came here to play baseball because you love the game.
"I was just living in the moment. I had a blast. I didn't go out there trying to be the funny guy or anything, that's just me. I showed me, and I just had a lot of fun doing it."
Added Oda: "What you saw on TV, for sure that's Seanie in real life. I think what makes Seanie very special was you see the good players, but the great players make everyone else around them better. And that's what Seanie did."
Just the beginning
Prior to the Little League World Series, Sean Yamaguchi startled his parents by telling them he wanted to transfer from ‘Iolani to Saint Louis.
"He told me and my wife that he wanted to go to Saint Louis, and we had a long discussion, and I explained to him that Saint Louis is a boys' school," Mike Yamaguchi said. "It's a tough school, it's a very competitive school, and he said that's why he wants to go there."
Since Michael still attended ‘Iolani, the commute for the Yamaguchi boys was about to get extended by a few miles. Sean Yamaguchi knew leaving the nurturing nature of ‘Iolani in favor of the Saint Louis slopes was a sacrifice worth making.
Sean Yamaguchi began to get recognized in public after returning home from Williamsport, but he'd be damned if that's where the list of his baseball accolades came to an end.
"He knows he's blessed with a skill," Mike Yamaguchi said. "He's a very hard worker."
He returned motivated to ascend even further in the sport and created a plan for himself. Sessions in the cage and at the park would be supplemented by rigorous weight room sessions and disciplined eating. He quickly made friends with his Saint Louis teammates, inviting them over for some extra work. Names such as Aiva Arquette, the seventh overall selection of the 2025 MLB Draft, as well as Caleb Lomavita, the 39th overall pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, were some of the names that came through.
"It got me mentally tough. It's a tough school. It's an all-boys school," Yamaguchi said. "If you're not ready to compete at anything you do, in the classroom, on the field, then Saint Louis is not the school for you."
During his senior year at Saint Louis, Yamaguchi hit .403 while manning shortstop for the Crusaders, winning ILH and Hawai‘i Gatorade Player of the Year honors. Saint Louis was eliminated in the HHSAA semifinals, leaving Yamaguchi without a state title. It's the rare goal that has eluded him.
While racking up the individual honors, Yamaguchi spent much of his senior year filling out questionnaires for MLB scouts. More than a dozen teams inquired, wanting to learn what it would take to get him to skip his commitment to the University of Nevada and turn pro immediately. Yamaguchi ultimately decided college was the best route for his development.
Standing out of the pack
One of the first things asked of Yamaguchi upon arriving to Reno was to put on the catcher's gear. Sure, he was a middle infielder his whole childhood, but Nevada's coaches were skeptical he could stick at an infield position at this level. Yamaguchi was told he'd start off as the bullpen catcher, and after that, maybe he could work his way up to backup catcher.
"I said, OK, yes, coach, I'm going to go out there and prove to you guys that I'm going to do anything for this team, and I'm going to do anything to win," Yamaguchi recalled. In his heart, he knew he belonged at one of the other infield positions. And in his belly, a fire burned. Each morning, he'd wake up early to lift weights. He'd also show up early to practice to get extra swings in. With a strong showing in the fall, highlighted by a towering home run in a scrimmage against Vanderbilt, he knew his coaches couldn't deny him a spot in the starting nine.
Yamaguchi won the starting third base job by opening day and never relinquished it, committing just four errors all year at the hot corner. At the plate, he hit 13 home runs while maintaining a .324 batting average, driving in 50 runs. He was named the Mountain West Conference's Freshman of the Year. The Wolf Pack went 34-23, winning the Mountain West regular season title before falling short of an NCAA Regional appearance by getting eliminated in the conference tournament.
When a freshman like Yamaguchi puts up the numbers that he did, other schools notice. After Nevada's season ended, Yamaguchi became an attractive commodity, even though he did not announce plans to enter the transfer portal.
Left and right, power conference schools were approaching Yamaguchi. One particular school, a College World Series regular, had hundreds of thousands of dollars at the ready for one season of Yamaguchi's services. All he had to do was enter the portal and it was his.
"As a 20-year-old, that's very intriguing. That kind of money that they were throwing out is like, wow," Yamaguchi said. "But the biggest thing for me is Jake (McKinley) gave me that opportunity. Nevada gave me that opportunity. So, I wanted to stay as loyal as I can. ... I think that offseason last year, it was pretty crazy. But I wanted to show my loyalty to Nevada and what they did for me."
Nevada's 2026 season, which starts on Friday with a three-game series at Ole Miss, is packed with promise. High expectations are placed towards the Wolf Pack despite losing McKinley to a coaching role with the Seattle Mariners in December. Under new head coach Jordan Getzelman, the Pack were picked to finish first in the preseason Mountain West poll, voted on by the conference's coaches. Yamaguchi was also five Nevada players on the preseason All-Conference team. Additionally, D1Baseball recently named Yamaguchi its preseason Mountain West Player of the Year.
"Nevada's in the right spot," Yamaguchi said. "We're returning eight of our nine starters from last year. We're going to be really good. ... It was the best decision I made. Even looking back at high school, like trying to go out of high school to the draft, I think college was the best decision I've ever made, and hopefully it all works out."
A big league future?
A standout flag football quarterback and receiver, Yamaguchi made the conscious decision to focus on baseball around the time he became a Little League star. He's honed in on a singular goal since then: A long career in the Major Leagues.
"I finally realized, bad days in baseball and good days, I still love the sport. I can have a terrible day, go 0-for-4, and I would still look forward to the next practice," he said. "You got to love the sport, and you got to make sure that you dedicate everything to the sport. I've sacrificed a lot, not going to the beach every day and stuff. It's just the sacrifices that I really put into this game and just making sure that I dedicate my craft to it. And I think that's when it really started to pick up. Like, I got a real shot at this sport, so might as well live it out, go all out for it and try to make it to the show."
Bring Yamaguchi's name up in front of pro scouts, and they say a variation of the same thing: The kid can play. He's produced, on offense and defense, at every level he's been a part of.
Because he will be 21 by the time the 2026 MLB Draft arrives in July, Yamaguchi will be eligible to get selected. Other players at four-year schools have to wait until their junior year. Yamaguchi can either start his professional career this summer or play another season of college baseball, where as a junior in 2027, he’ll still have the leverage to command a sizable pro payday.
The higher Yamaguchi climbs in the sport, the more responsible he feels for representing where he comes from. During his free time back home over winter break, he volunteered at a youth camp, offering pointers to those who aim to follow in his footsteps.
"Something I can take on throughout my whole journey is to always represent Hawai‘i and always be humble," Yamaguchi says. "They love the local boys. They love the local sports. They love to back kids up. So, the biggest thing for me is understanding that if I do well and I put Hawai‘i on the map, Hawai‘i got my back. And I would never do anything to give Hawai‘i a bad rep. I would love to go out there with the aloha spirit and make sure that I put Hawai‘i on the map."
Yamaguchi has already played in games in front of thousands that were repurposed for millions to see. He's hoping he gets to do that more consistently and for a living within a couple of years. His childhood passion has turned into a business in real time, and he has the numbers to prove it. One of the few constants left in the mad dash to his dreams is his support system, especially those precious days at the park. They remind him he may be away, but he's not alone.
"All I want to do is make them proud," Yamaguchi says of his family. "I can hang up the cleats right now, and I know they'll be proud of me. That kind of stuff will stick with me. Not all the achievements, it will be those moments where I'm hitting at the field with my brother and my dad and my mom coming out to the games, and them flying up to Reno and my grandma coming out. They've been supportive since day one.
"If I can keep going and accomplish that goal of getting drafted and make it to the show one day, all the credit will go to them. They know how hard I work, and they know what I've sacrificed. But at the end of the day, they've sacrificed way more. I just want to give back to them and give back to the state and give back to everybody that's helped me out."
Both of Mike Yamaguchi’s sons are grown now, and days at the park are few and far between. When Michael was away at college, Mike says Sean would always say he wishes he was there. Now that Michael's playing career is over, he's the one throwing to Sean during batting practice.
As the boys patrol the outfield to recollect the balls Sean just swatted all over the yard, Mike gets emotional when he explains how much he treasures times like this. On days he comes to the park with his boys, it's like they're his keiki all over again.
"All the memories, it don't beat this," Mike Yamaguchi says as he wipes his tears away. "My boys are my life. This is the kind of stuff I remember the most. Just us coming out here and having fun."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
