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As it turns out, the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) will post corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto to MLB this offseason.
As a result, the 29-year-old will be the first position player in Giants history to be made available through this posting system, per Francys Romero on Twitter/X.
In 69 games, the right-handed hitter slashed .327/.416/.598 with 15 home runs, 49 runs batted in and a wRC+ of 210. Each of the previous seven seasons, he clubbed at least 27 home runs across a minimum of 118 games (2020, still hit 31 that year).
With the position player market this winter being pretty top-heavy, Okamoto presents perhaps a cheaper alternative for mid-market teams looking to beef up the middle of the order, or for bigger market teams who miss out on impact corner infielders like Pete Alonso and/or Alex Bregman.
What makes Okamoto so enticing, even as a would-be 30-year-old (in June) rookie, is his proficiency for putting bat-to-ball. As we’re learning through this postseason, perhaps the strategy of living and dying with the long-ball’s shelf life was short — similar to a lot of players who’ve fit that mold over the years — and putting constant traffic on the basepaths, especially in October, is a winning strategy with the proper lineup.
The bonus to the Giants infielder is he hits a lot of home runs in addition to not striking out.
Not to be taken lightly is the difference between NPB and Major League Baseball in terms of skill level. Though Okamoto posted an OPS north of 1.000 with a .327 batting average in 2025, that doesn’t mean he’s going to come to the states and do the same.
Could he? Sure, but for every Seiya Suzuki there’s a Masataka Yoshida; for every Yoshida, there’s a Shogo Akiyama.
Much as the case for calling up a top prospect, you can never be too sure of a player’s ability to handle MLB. In addition to the uptick in skill level amongst peers, there’s the challenge of being far away from home and potentially family — so the mental burden can be just as, if not more challenging for the incoming player even unlike someone promoted from the minor leagues.
Anyway, the market for Okamoto will be a fascinating one. With that, let’s examine five suitors for his services.
Getting the obvious out of the way first, the Red Sox have major question marks at first base to answer this winter.
Boston ranked 27th in baseball in fWAR out of first basemen (-0.8) with a 26th-ranked 86 wRC+ between Triston Casas, Romy Gonzalez, Abraham Toro, Nick Sogard and Nathaniel Lowe.
Casas, the team’s Opening Day first baseman, played just 28 games before rupturing his patellar tendon in early May.
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It’s important to state that no decision they make has to result in the conclusion of Casas’ time with the organization. What he needs is volume at this point, while he works on his swing and simply consistently playing baseball again. If that’s in Triple-A, so be it. Better to have him as depth than not at all.
Okamoto fits right into the middle of the order, ideally hitting third or fourth, pending the resolution of Bregman’s free agency. Time and time again, the Red Sox left runs on the table because of their inability to contact the baseball in timely spots; they had the fifth-highest strikeout rate with runners in scoring position and two outs; tied for sixth-highest with runners in scoring, regardless of out total.
They need to put bat on ball more. Yes, an overwhelming majority of poor contact yields an out — but you know what *always* is an out? Striking out.
Similar to the Red Sox, Arizona also received sub-optimal production at first base.
Before the trade to Seattle, Josh Naylor sported a 102 wRC+ with 0.3 fWAR and while Pavin Smith performed well at the position overall, he’s turned into something of a health liability for the D-backs.
It’s a fascinating fit for Okamoto, as we rarely see Arizona kicking around on international free agents. But the Diamondbacks have the opening at first base, offer a balance of the western United States-life that oftentimes plays a role in recruiting Japanese stars, and even have a potential opening at third base since Eugenio Suarez (free agent anyway) was traded midseason.
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While the D-backs weren’t exactly a team knocking on the door of the postseason this year, it’s an underrated baseball market with exciting players such as Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte.
Adding another imposing hitter, along with an arm or two this winter, and they may be ready to step back into postseason contention in 2026.
From one of Naylor’s — and Suarez’s — 2025 teams, to the other. The lefty first baseman is a free agent upon conclusion of the season, thus leaving a vacancy at the position for Seattle.
The Mariners offense stalled, though to no fault of Naylor, in the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays, with several RBI chances yielding strikeouts.
This isn’t to say Okamoto is the difference between winning and losing this series, and potentially winning the whole thing, but he’s certainly a likelier contact man than the aforementioned Suarez and Leo Rivas, who played second base with Jorge Polanco at DH in Game 7.
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Seattle exuded the mantra of getting your A-swing off always, as they were a top 10 team in highest strikeout rate as well this year, but their offense saw marked improvement overall.
Perhaps leaning into power without abandoning contact will set them up for more success, or at least sustained, more postseason-ready offense, in 2026.
While the Giants got some production out of Rafael Devers at first base this season, it’s probably in their best interest to keep him at designated hitter for the time being.
Thus, it opens up a spot in the lineup for Okamoto.
That said, the corner infielder is a peculiar fit in the sense that offense goes to die at Oracle Park, with the marine layer and the fact the ballpark is gigantic. However, the Giants lineup feels like it’s a bat or two away from being something pretty fierce, assuming health.
Adding Okamoto, with no other additions, would give the Giants a lineup as follows:
CF| Jung Hoo Lee (L)
3B | Matt Chapman
DH | Rafael Devers (L)
1B | Kazuma Okamoto
LF | Heliot Ramos
SS | Willy Adames
RF | Drew Gilbert (L)
2B | Tyler Fitzgerald
C | Patrick Bailey (S)
Again, it’s an imperfect fit, but it creates a very good lineup on paper.
This fit involves getting a smidge creative, but with Luis Arraez’s free agency, it opens the door for a possible Okamoto landing spot.
While Arraez had a productive career in San Diego, his slap hitting didn’t really have the impact the Padres, or their fans, wish it did.
Getting more power, without sacrificing too much bat-to-ball, at a position like first base should be a priority for San Diego this offseason. As a team looking to avoid shelling out a ton more in contracts this offseason, rolling an infield of Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, Jake Cronenworth and Okamoto makes sense.
It’s not the best fit due in part to the ballpark’s size, but it’s top five in ballpark factor league-wide for homers by righty bats since 2023. So, it’s not a given that the Japanese star will see a dramatic decrease in home run power.
This is entirely contingent on Alonso’s free agent market, but this could be a super exciting destination for the 29-year-old.
As a result, the Mets get younger, add serious production at a dramatically reduced cost and can then turn their attention to adding elite-level starting pitching — which is supposedly David Stearns’ specialty dating back to his days running the Milwaukee Brewers operation.
It’s a drop off from the longtime Met in Alonso, but not enough to where the combination of Okamoto and a legitimate starter to pair with fellow Japanese phenom Kodai Senga can’t be seen as equally if not more valuable to the Mets 2026 outlook.
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