The MLB Is Sleeping on the Blue Jays’ Kazuma Okamoto

35 comments

1. Okamoto will be great.

2. GO JAYS GO! Hope Okomoto(and the boys) have another World Series run in them!!

3. Love to see Okomoto hit a bomb off Yamamoto or Sasaki in bottom of the 9th in Game 7 of this years World Series!

4. We still need bellinger but i am very excited for kazuma

5. Translation: We lost out on Ohtani, and Saski, so now we have to hype ourselves up over this guy! 😂😂😂

6. You should see my backyard wiffle ball stats! 😂

7. This man will lead the Blue Jays in Batting Average and Homeruns in 2026.

8. Whatever. He's NOT at Tucker or Bichette level. Stop the bs.

9. This guy 😂😅
   Half of the "he's on a plane to Toronto!?"
   😂😂😂😂😂😂

10. It’s only a value contract if he transitions quickly to MLB. And that is not a guarantee. Temper your expectations. Not all the Japan players that come over end up being successful in MLB

11. Blue Jays fans have middle child syndrome, thinking that no one loves them. Need to get over this.

12. Big Time Sleeper 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

13. Please delete this video bro

14. Also people not looking at how good he was during the WBC. 333 average with a 1.2 ops against some solid big league pitching. Ik it was a solid sample size but has proven that he can hit against good pitching especially in high pressure situations.

15. Love the shorter, informative vid!

16. Seems like an exciting addition. Lots of negativity on this thread, but based on his numbers in Japan, he could end up being the surprise player of the year. Great addition to the Jays!

17. Young General will launch rockets out of the Skydome. 🚀

18. Of course he is better than anyone thinks. The Blue Jays signed him!

19. Adam is drinking his own Kool-Aid

20. I read that of all the pitches in the strike zone he swung at, he made contact with 90% of them, now thats outstanding, I believe he will surprise a lot of people over here, the Japanese already know who he is, he will become a fan favourite. May take him a bit of time to acclimate to the MLB but he's a professional, I can't wait to watch him, ganbare Okamoto-sama, Toronto ni irashaimase.

21. Translation: We are a SMALL MARKET Team who was talking all kinds of junk thinking we were going to sign lots of Free Agents, but we didn't sign anyone cause we have no money and we're a small market team, but we didn't want them anyways so we signed This Guy! 😂😂😂

22. Belinger just signed with Yankees.. personally I didn’t wNt him on Jays , wat too much money

23. Totally agree. Okamoto is the real deal… elite at adjusting to pitches, stays balanced, and brings legitimate pop without selling out.

24. Congrats on the Jays missing out on Cody Bellinger also, you guys suck! 😂😂😂

25. Once again, the Blue Jays failed to get in the top free agent bats so you better hope that this Japanese player is way better than people think he’s going to be cause if not, it’s gonna be a short season next year.

26. Interesting to see that the Yankees blinked when they signed Bellinger to $162,500,000 over 5 years.

27. The only thing for Jays fans is to not expect too much from Okamoto right away, and to give him a lot of leeway to allow him to adjust to MLB pitching. Which is a huge task for anyone who has never played at this level before.

    I know this is a long time, but me personally, I am willing to give him until the 2027 All-Star break to show a marked improvement. By then I would surely hope he's hitting close to what he has shown in the NPB. Until then, I am willing to give him plenty of time to acclimate to the MLB.

    I just worry too many Jays fans are going to write him off if he doesn't perform in his first 2-3 months. He may hit the ground running, or he may scuffle in his first year and the beginning of next year. I hope for the former, and am wiling to give him time on the latter. But just don't let your frustration get the better of your judgement. Give him time.

28. Likely wishful thinking at least initially. There is always an adjustment period to MLB pitching, and the jury is still out on how he will do. I would not expect all star level numbers right away. Scouting is so good these days, if his underlying metrics were good, more teams would have been in on him right away.

29. Anyone else here think Okamoto was an intended replacement bat for Bo? 🙋‍♂ A lot of Jays fans wondered why Atkins would "complicate" the lineup by signing Okamoto, but it's quite possible the Jays signed "Big Oak" to replace Bo because they already knew he was going to sign elsewhere. Now that Bo's gone, while Okamoto is not Bo, this signing could potentially be a saving grace.

30. 👍👍

31. I brought this up live .. people are sleeping on Okamoto.. you disagreed with me haha now here’s the video…. Sigh

32. It’s hard to tell, if his numbers drop off from the NPB as much as Suzuki’s did I’m not sure 60 mill will be a good contract
    Suzuki 315 AVG 571 SLG and struck out 16.1%
    Okamoto 277 AVG 521 SLG and struck out 20.2%

    If his numbers decline similar to Suzuki he would strike out about 32% of the time (Suzuki is striking out 28% in the MLB) and hit 231 AVG with a .423 SLG. This would put his OPS right around 700-720.

33. Big question is can his success to translate to the mlb?

34. Lots of insecure dodgers fans here I think

35. I can see him 35*; home runs