The Jays signed Kazuma Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million contract. He had played 11 seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He hit .322/.411/.581 with 15 home runs in 77 game there in 2025 and .280/.362/.505 with 27 home runs in 143 games in 2024. He had 248 career home runs.
There were questions about his defense at third base, but most thought he would be able to hit. Steamer figured him to hit .251/.323/.446 with 22 home runs in 130 games. I guessed a .250 ish average with 25 home runs and
a .340 ish OBP.
| Age | WAR | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ | TB | GIDP | HBP | SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 2.5 | 156 | 636 | 568 | 81 | 132 | 26 | 0 | 33 | 92 | 1 | 1 | 59 | 183 | .232 | .310 | .452 | .762 | 107 | 257 | 15 | 6 | 3 |
Generated 9/28/2026.
Okamoto hit more home runs than I expected.
Baseball Reference had him at a 2.5 WAR. FanGraphs at 2.9, giving him a value of $23.4 million to the Jays.
He had a .332 wOBA and a 113 wRC+.
His walk rate was up, 9.3% (the Jays team average was 7.6%). The strikeout rate was 28.8%. (team average wa 19.0%).
Kazuma line-drive rate was 17.0% (team 18.6). The ground ball rate was 35.6% (team 43.3). Fly balls 47.4% (38.1). 17.9% of his fly balls left the part (team average 9.2%).
Soft contact was 13.1% (team 16.3%), and hard contact was 39.9% (team 31.3%).
Okamoto hit LHP (.250/.339/.520) much better than RHP (..226/.299/.429). He should have been hitting high in the order against lefties and low against right-handers. We’ll see if he does better against RHP next year.
He hit better on the road (.323/.403/.498) than at home (.262/.360/.436), the opposite of last year.
Kazuma hit slightly better at home (.238/.323/.457) than on the road (.228/.297/.449).;’
And he hit better in the first half (.239/.319/.469) than the second half (.223/.295/.428). Perhaps tiring, perhaps teams pitched him better with more scouting.
Kazuma by month:
- April: .218/.310/.373 with 5 home runs, 13 walks and 38 strikeouts in 30 games.
- May: .210/.304/.470 with 11 home runs, 11 walks and 39 strikeouts in 28 games.
- June: ..286/.353/.560 with 8 home runs, 8 walks and 33 strikeouts in 25 games
- July: ..213/.271/.427 with 5 home runs, 6 walks and 24 strikeouts in 24 games.
- August: .219/.290/.406 with 4 home runs, 10 walks and 26 strikeouts in 26 games.
- September: .256/.344/.500 with 5 home runs, 11 walks and 23 strikeouts in 23 games.
If every month could have been like June…..
He hit .234/.301/.396 with 6 home runs, 16 walks and 43 strikeouts with RISP.
Okamoto was pretty much the same in high leverage (.286/.333/.437) as medium (.233/.310/.463) or low leverage spots (.203/.298/.450). Well, pretty much the same in OPS. His batting average was best in high leverage, but he hit with better power in other spots.
Defensively?
He had a league leading 20 errors at third base, with a .935 fielding average (league average at third was .358). Outs Above Average had him at a -3.
He played 95.2 innings at first base, with 1 error, and a .990 fielding average (league average is .995). Outs Above Average had him at a 0 at first.
Baseball Savant had him at a 23 percentile for range and a 27 percentile for arm.
Fangraphs had him at a -3.1 runs as a baserunner. Savant has him as a 26th percentile for sprint speed.
He stole one base (almost as amazing as Kirk stealing a base) and was caught once.
By Batting Order Position Okamoto hit:
- Batting 2nd: 5 starts, .250/.375/.450.
- Batting 3rd: 20 starts, .247/.310/.481.
- Batting 4th: 48 starts, .213/295/.377.
- Batting 5th: 36 starts, .157/.272/.378.
- Batting 6th: 24 starts, .292/.333/.629.
- Batting 7th: 19 starts, .338/.392/.559.
By defensive position:
- 1B: 13 games: .311/.354/.622.
- 3B: 151 games: .227/.307/.442.
- DH: 12 games: .200/.333/.300.
- PH: 2 PA, 2 strikeouts.
His longest hitting streak was 10 games.
His longest on-base streak was 16 games.
The longest he went without a home run was 17 games.
His longest hitless streak was 7 games.
The team was 73-79 in his starts.
Kazuma’s favourite team to face? He hit .318/.423/.727 in 6 games against the A’s. Also .313/.389/.688 in 5 games vs the Guardians.
Least favourite: White Sox .048/.200/.048 in 6 games.
Times facing a starter:
- First: .261/.333/.552
- Second: .254/.359/.410
- Third: .247/.318/.506
- He had 1 PA against a starter for the fourth time and was hit by pitch.
Swinging at the first pitch of an at bat he hit .375 .393 .696 with 5 home runs.
A very nice rookie season. He’s likely to get some RoY votes, but Kevin McGonigle is going to win it.
Baseball Savant says he is very good at Barreling the ball (89th percentile). And good at hard hit percentage 71st percentile. But ‘squared-up’ percentage isn’t good (29th percentile).
He had an excellent rookie season, and I’m expecting he’ll improve over the four years of his contract, as he gets more comfortable with the game here.
In a perfect world, he’d likely play first base. I’d imagine, next year, without George Springer (presuming they will be without him, never know I guess), Okamoto will likely get more turns at DH, hopefully helping him stay rested for the season.
