Kazuma Okamoto signed a four-year, $60MM deal with the Blue Jays this offseason after a long tenure as one of Japan’s top sluggers. Compared to Munetaka Murakami and Tatsuya Imai, whose deals with the White Sox and Astros were well below industry expectations, Okamoto’s contract was roughly in line with MLBTR’s four-year, $64MM prediction. Early into his major league career, the third baseman is proving to be a capable hitter.
Okamoto was best known for his power during his tenure with the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit a total of 247 home runs from 2018-25, including 30 or more in every season from 2018-23. Impressively, Okamoto achieved this while also striking out at rates that would be much better than average by MLB standards. He did not strike out more than 18.8% of the time in every season from 2020-25, and he walked and struck out at even 11.3% rates in 2025.
Some adjustment was expected as Okamoto transitioned to the Majors. Even in that context, he was generally expected to be a solid hitter with better-than-average contact and power, plus serviceable defense at the hot corner. The early returns have been decent. Through his first 128 plate appearances, Okamoto has batted .228/.313/.430 with seven home runs and a 107 wRC+. His 29.7% strikeout rate is higher than the Jays would like, but Okamoto is also walking at a 10.9% clip and outpacing the league-average .320 wOBA by 11 points. Put simply, he could stand to make more contact, but he’s getting on base and doing enough damage on contact to make up for it.
Okamoto is also quieting concerns about his struggles against high-velocity pitching. As noted by FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, Okamoto was inconsistent against fastballs thrown at 94 MPH or higher in Japan. That has not been the case in 2026. Per Statcast, Okamoto is batting .303/.361/.636 against four-seamers 94 MPH and above, with a .428 wOBA in those plate appearances. For comparison, the league output against 94 MPH+ four-seamers is .233/.333/.398 with a .330 wOBA.
That Okamoto is adapting so well to high-velocity pitching is great news for Toronto. The 29-year-old was their main offensive addition in a winter that saw Bo Bichette leave for the Mets and Kyle Tucker spurn the club’s $350MM offer for a short-term pact with the Dodgers. The net result was swapping Bichette for Okamoto, creating some downside risk for what was a Top-5 offense in the Majors in 2025. So far this year, the Jays’ offense is a Bottom-10 unit with a 92 wRC+. That is no fault of Okamoto, as he and Ernie Clement (108 wRC+) are the team’s only above-average hitters other than Guerrero. When you also consider that Okamoto has held his own on defense, he looks like a perfectly fine all-around player.
With Murakami dominating at the plate for the White Sox, Okamoto’s output may feel underwhelming by comparison. That said, he doesn’t need to be an otherworldly hitter to live up to his deal, even with his track record from NPB. By most estimates, Okamoto’s $15MM average annual salary is equivalent to 1.5-2 WAR – i.e., a decent regular rather than an All-Star. So far, he is hitting for power and providing serviceable defense, as he was expected to. There is room to grow, namely by cutting back on strikeouts and hitting non-four seam fastballs, against which Okamoto is hitting just .069/.182/.069. Overall, given the size of his contract and who he is replacing in the lineup, Okamoto has been about as valuable as could be expected.
Photo courtesy of Bruce Kluckhohn, Imagn Images
The article is timed well to present an above average hitting performance considering he just hit two homers yesterday. Presumably before that his stats looked very middling
Almost as if he had to adjust to a new country and a higher calibre league
All things considered so far, Okamoto has been solid for the Jays. The power has been a huge plus to the offense, the defense has been better than expected (and definitely better than Bo, who he will forever be compared against), and he’s fitting into the clubhouse seamlessly.
If he can adjust to stop swinging at breaking balls that are away, especially the slider/sweeper types on the outside of the zone, he has a chance to an become elite hitter. The pieces are there, he just has to put the puzzle together.
Almost as if that’s not the point of my comment.
You missed the point of the article
Dude I don’t wanna go back and forth. I didn’t miss the point.i understand there is merit in the article. It was a passing comment. Shouldn’t have been made apparently. Just an observation. My observation was multiple times the article indicated he has been above average. My pointless point was merely that 36 hours ago his line looked less impressive.
You didn’t miss the point, but you missed the inherent cynicism behind yours. Your point reflects the nature of the sport; this isn’t a guy who was punchless for 90% of the season and then scorched so hot over the most recent 10% that it badly skews the whole deal – it’s a guy who opened the year with a 6 game hitting streak, struggled for a good while from there, and then has hit every well again over his last 13 games. That most recent stretch was much more than just that last game.
The calendar just turned to May, so every sample size we have is susceptible to your point. So, not the most useful point. We can only go on the still-limited performance thus far.
A while back there was an interesting comment in one of the weekly chats that I decided to keep track of out of curiosity. It’s still very early and there is lots of baseball to be played, of course, but it is fun to check in on it…
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GruberChops
1:34
Kuzuma Okamoto ends up with a higher WAR this season then Bo. You taking the over or under.
Steve Adams
1:34
Comfortably taking Bo
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At the end of play for May 1:
Kazuma Okamoto has 0.5 bWAR/ 0.5 fWAR
Bo Bichette has -0.3 bWAR/ 0.1 fWAR