Kazuma Okamoto is a 29-year-old, right-handed hitting corner infielder from Gojo, Japan. He’s played 11 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball. The Jays signed him to a four-year, $60 million contract (Ben Clemens at FanGraphs figured him to sign four years and $72 million).
Not that it means much, but he’s shown a nice sense of humour (he is serious and manly) and sense of fun in the few days he’s been at the Jays spring camp.
Rogers hopes to grow the Blue Jays’ brand in Japan. We are going to Japan next month. I’m going to bring a bunch of Blue Jays caps with me. Every holiday, I end up trading a Jays cap for something
Career he’s hit .277/.361/.521, with 248 home runs. Last year, he was limited to 69 games with the Yomiuri Giants because of an elbow sprain, but he hit .327/.416/.598 with 15 home runs. FanGraphs notes that he has the second-most homers in NPB since 2019.
He’s lowered his strikeout rate the last two seasons (15.9% in 2024, 11.3% last year). And there is a note that he’s hitting better against fastballs the last couple of years. He’s a pull hitter.
There are questions about his defense at third. FanGraphs says this:
Okamoto can show you nimble lower body stability and has feel for bouncing off the dirt and spinning into accurate throws, but he lacks range and struggles making plays to his glove side.
Baseball America likes his defense more:
In the field, Okamoto is an above-average defender at third base, and he’s won multiple NPB Gold Glove equivalents. He’s a plus-plus defender at first base and offers his signing team defensive versatility.
With Vlad at first, third is Kazuma’s spot. I am interested in seeing his defense this spring. I’m guessing he’ll move to first on Vlad’s DH days.
How will he hit? I’d like to think he’ll be around 25 home runs, maybe a .250ish average, .340-.350 OBP.
Steamer? They have him playing 130 games, 22 home runs, a .251/.323/.446 batting line with a 2.3 fWAR.
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