Coming off an American League East title and a trip to the World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays have kept their foot firmly on the gas well into the off-season.
They wasted little time addressing their pitching staff, jumping the market to land Dylan Cease on a $210-million deal before handing out $67 million collectively to Cody Ponce and Tyler Rogers. But on the offensive side of things, Toronto has patiently waited right alongside MLB’s other bat-needy teams for the free agencies of this winter’s top hitters to develop.
That was until Saturday, when the Blue Jays struck, agreeing to a four-year, $60-million contract with Japanese star Kazuma Okamoto one day before his posting window closed — a deal that became official Sunday evening.
Okamoto will arrive in Toronto after starring with Nippon Professional Baseball’s (NPB) Yomiuri Giants for the past 11 seasons. Despite never capturing a Japan Series title during his time with one of the league’s marquee franchises, the 29-year-old did plenty to establish himself as a bona fide superstar before choosing to bring his talents to MLB.
“I’m grateful to all the team officials and fans who respected my decision and gave me their support,” Okamoto said upon his initial posting. “I believe MLB is the best league in the world, and I’ve always wanted to play there. I’ve worked hard with that goal in mind.”
Nicknamed “The Young General,” Okamoto has consistently slotted into the middle of the Giants’ lineup, posting a career .882 OPS and smashing 248 long balls. All of which earned him six NPB all-star nods, three Central League home run titles and a Climax Series MVP in 2019.
With the off-season still unfolding as we sit here in early January, it’s not hard to see how Okamoto’s bat may fit in Toronto’s lineup and why the Blue Jays were attracted to his skill set. But with spring training feeling closer than ever, here is a by-the-numbers look at Okamoto’s illustrious NPB career and what he brings to his new club.
6: A six-time NPB all-star, Okamoto has ranked among Japan’s top sluggers since his full-time arrival with the Giants in 2018. Between 2018 and 2023, the right-handed-hitting Okamoto totalled 206 homers, blasting 30 or more in each of those six campaigns. While he fell below 30 in 2024, he left the yard at a 31-homer pace in 2025, but an elbow injury limited him to just 69 games.
11.3: Okamoto posted identical 11.3 per cent walk and strikeout rates and maintained his ability to hit for power in 2025. While it came in a limited sample, the result was a career-best 1.014 OPS. For a Blue Jays team that excelled at putting the ball in play with authority in 2025, Okamoto figures to be a seamless fit. Not only was he well above average in drawing walks and avoiding strikeouts in 2025, but Okamoto made contact on pitches he swung at in the strike zone 90.1 per cent of the time — a mark matched by just 33 qualified MLB hitters last year.
66.8: No NPB hitter was more proficient at pulling the ball in the air over the past two seasons than Okamoto. Despite not posting gaudy exit velocities like some of baseball’s preeminent power hitters, Okamoto finds his way to extra bases and home runs with fly balls to left field. He ranked in the 97th percentile of NPB hitters with a 66.8 per cent air rate in 2025, with just 32.6 per cent of his balls in play being put on the ground. It’s a profile that should translate well to the Rogers Centre, as the dome has ranked among the friendliest in baseball for right-handed home run hitters since renovations began.
68: Much has been made of where Okamoto may slot in for Toronto defensively. But like a number of players currently on the Blue Jays roster, the six-foot-one slugger has shown an ability to slide around the diamond. Most of his time has indeed been spent at first and third base — where he earned NPB’s Mitsui Golden Glove Awards in 2021 and 2022 — but Okamoto has 68 games of left-field experience for the Giants. Just 24 of those appearances have come since 2020, which means he is likely unable to handle full-time duties in the outfield, but could still log some innings in a corner when needed.
152: Since 2020, only Munataka Murakami has hit more home runs in NPB than Okamoto’s 152. Signed earlier this off-season to a two-year, $34-million deal by the Chicago White Sox, Murakami is an interesting comparison for Okamoto, considering their positional similarity and status as two of Japan’s biggest stars. Murakami may have arrived on the free-agent scene with more notoriety, thanks to his age, massive raw power and record-breaking 2022 campaign. But in the end, it’s Okamoto who receives the larger total commitment, since he is considered to have a safer profile than Murakami, whose swing-and-miss concerns kept teams from paying up for his power.
1.278: Okamoto was one of the driving forces in Japan’s 2023 World Baseball Classic victory. He carried a 1.278 OPS for the tournament, hitting two homers — one of which came off USA’s Kyle Freeland in the championship game — driving in seven runs and drawing eight walks in 18 at-bats.
2019: Named the MVP of the 2019 Central League Climax Series, Okamoto powered Yomiuri to the Japan Series with three home runs in its series win over the Hanshin Tigers. His last of those homers came in the Giants’ series-clinching Game 4 win, marking the first time Yomiuri had advanced to the Japan Series since 2013.
