How Okamoto’s success can impression Blue Jays’ push into Japanese market 

TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays launched Kazuma Okamoto throughout a Jan. 6 information convention and as a part of his go to to town, the group deliberate a dinner for him at a high-end omakase sushi restaurant the following day. As the reservation approached, nonetheless, the newly signed slugger respectfully took a cross, as a result of he’d gone to the Eaton Centre meals court docket for lunch and crushed so many scorching canine he was too full for one more meal.

Just a few months later, Okamoto’s weight-reduction plan went viral when he narrowly missed a three-homer recreation May 1 at Minnesota and blamed a ninth-inning drive falling brief on not consuming a pre-game quesadilla. “I think if I would have had that, it would have been a home run,” he mentioned on the time. His style for quick meals could assist clarify why he bought so stuffed throughout that preliminary cease on the Eaton Centre, nevertheless it’s additionally symbolic of the way in which the 30-year-old from Gojo, Japan, acclimated rapidly to North America throughout a profitable rookie season with the Blue Jays.

Okamoto crossed the Pacific as a longtime star with the Yomiuri Giants, with questions on how his recreation, particularly his defence, would switch to the majors.

After batting .232/.310/.452 with 33 homers and 92 RBIs whereas additionally taking part in third base higher than the membership anticipated, he proved he was as much as the problem, establishing the Blue Jays as a possible vacation spot the place Japanese place gamers can discover success within the course of.

“The 162 felt quick, actually, now looking back at it,”  Okamoto mentioned by means of interpreter Yusuke Oshima on the ultimate day of the common season. “But through ups and downs I learned a lot. It was a fun season.”

While Okamoto isn’t the primary outstanding Japanese participant to play for the Blue Jays – Tomo Ohka, Munenori Kawaski, Nori Aoki, Shun Yamaguchi and, in fact, Yusei Kikuchi all preceded him – he’s the primary on a regular basis place participant of prominence to make the bounce.

Back in Tokyo, residence of the Giants, “he is a superstar, he is known, he is that kind of guy,” agent Scott Boras mentioned in a July interview. “He can’t go out in the streets because he is a face.” That prominence meant each Blue Jays recreation this season obtained on-the-ground protection from a number of Japanese media retailers, exponentially elevating the franchise’s profile within the Land of the Rising Sun.

President and CEO Mark Shapiro mentioned “the most easily quantifiable impact” of his addition is within the membership’s social media engagement, however there’s additionally anecdotal proof in “the number of Blue Jays hats that are now in Tokyo compared to what there were.” The group is analyzing methods to leverage that on the business-side, though as colleague David Singh coated earlier this yr with a have a look at the Chicago Cubs, that takes time. Those efforts are ongoing, with the Blue Jays planning to ship a advertising and marketing and company companions group over this low season to construct and broaden relationships, and Shapiro presumably making a separate journey, too.

“We hope to have that be a part of our business strategy, as well, moving forward,” he mentioned.

Of extra rapid consequence, nonetheless, is the way in which Okamoto’s transition could also be seen by a robust contingent of Japanese free brokers the Blue Jays are anticipated to discover, led by the already established Seiya Suzuki of the Cubs, third baseman/outfielder Teruaki Sato and right-hander Kaima Taira.

Speaking generally phrases, Okamoto mentioned over the course of the season he’s chatted with gamers from again residence and, “I was able to exchange some information and tell them what it’s like in Toronto as well as the level of play here in MLB.”

Asked what he would say to free brokers about life with the Blue Jays and Toronto, he replied, “I’ll just be honest about how I felt about the team and the organization,” and he’s open to performing some recruiting if requested. “Of course I’d love to help out. I’ll be honest, because it’s obviously a big decision for them, not just baseball, but life as well.”

There are challenges for Japanese gamers in coming over each on and off the sector and Boras believes they’re tougher for place gamers than pitchers. The changes start with language and tradition however lengthen right down to not solely the way in which the sport is performed, however the way in which it’s coached, too.

“The level of information given here far, far exceeds what they’ve been given there, so players tend to become technical rather than athletic,” defined Boras. “They play free all those years and they come here and they’re loaded with all of the information that the tech, the coaches, and all of them in good faith, in good spirit, provide. The American players are used to hearing it. They’re not.”

That can develop into amplified by being in a overseas atmosphere, round gamers they possible don’t know, with guidelines and norms which can be completely different. Boras recalled coping with “the chill” of coming into a brand new locker room for the primary time when, as a double-A infielder within the St. Louis Cardinals system in 1977, he was traded to the Cubs and needed to get to know his new teammates at Midland. “You don’t know who you’re talking to… everybody’s watching you out of the corner of their eye,” he defined. “That 60-90 day period is another factor that leads to isolation.”

With Japanese gamers, “you can see an adjustment cycle that normally is not anywhere near as productive as they can be once they have that,” he continued. “It’s easier for pitchers because pitchers get to go out and do something familiar. The information they’re given is probably more precise and direct … and the pitching staff is dealing with a smaller group and you coalesce in a much easier form.”

Cognizant of the above, the Blue Jays labored to streamline the method for Okamoto.

They rehired Oshima, a Toronto native who was initially introduced on to translate for Kikuchi and adopted the left-hander to Houston after which Anaheim, to work as his interpreter. They already had Gosuke Katoh, the previous big-league infielder, working with the teaching workers as an analyst, and Yuka Sanui, the big-league squad’s dietitian the previous two years. Team leaders like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer made a degree of integrating him into the group dynamic from the day he arrived in Dunedin, Fla., for spring coaching.

And then “we pivoted pretty quickly to helping Kaz with the baseball stuff day-to-day, not just like the actual translating of it,” mentioned supervisor John Schneider. “Having not just Yusuke but Gosuke, who played, talk through certain things, whether it was a fundamental play or whether it was kind of what a pitch might feel like, was really helpful for him.”

Okamoto praised the membership’s sources and services for serving to him acclimate rapidly but additionally famous that “the transition always wasn’t the smoothest and there were some rough patches, too. But I’ve always believed in myself and always thought that I could hit here. It’s great that I’m able to.”

Boras isn’t in the least shocked.

“He’s used to fame, he’s used to expectation and he’s used to the demands being placed on him as being the centre of something,” he mentioned. “That’s allowed him, I think, a shorter adjustment period, because he’s so used to that. Basically, the Big Oak has many branches.”

As ever, the Blue Jays’ curiosity in NPB gamers will hook up with the strengths of their present roster. Yet after a season during which they lacked each offence and beginning pitching depth, that leaves a variety of prospects open.

A bat would clearly assist this group, with catcher, first base and third base the one positions which can be definitively coated. That leaves open the potential for Sato, the left-handed hitting 27-year-old who’s thought of the highest bat coming over from Japan. And beginning pitching is kind of a continuing want for contending groups, which implies the Blue Jays are doing diligence on the highest accessible NPB arms, too.

While Sato principally performed third base this season, he additionally has loads of expertise within the nook outfield, giving him Addison Barger-like versatility. But the place Barger missed nearly the whole season, Sato went off, hitting 39 residence runs whereas posting a powerful .311/.389/.620 slash line.

Last winter’s contracts for Okamoto ($60 million, 4 years) and Munetaka Murakami ($34 million over two years) shall be related reference factors, nevertheless it’s potential Sato prices greater than both given his youth and large platform yr.

On the pitching facet, there are two established starters and at the very least yet another title value watching. Given their ongoing efforts within the Pacific Rim, the Blue Jays will in fact be studying as a lot as they will about these three, amongst others.

Compact and explosive, Taira is maybe the largest title coming over this winter after posting a 1.36 ERA in 141 innings. Listed at five-foot-eight and 209 kilos, the 26-year-old Boras shopper is a former reliever who now touches 100 m.p.h. as a beginning pitcher. With a large arsenal of pitches, he’ll arrive in MLB as a starter and demand needs to be excessive.

While Taira may need essentially the most upside, Hiromi Itoh shouldn’t be neglected. The 29-year-old right-hander posted a 3.18 ERA in 172.2 innings this yr, placing out 159 hitters. Also of notice – he reached 150 innings for the sixth time in his six NPB seasons. That sturdiness will attraction to groups, even when he doesn’t profile as a frontline arm.

Lastly, Kona Takahashi is one other title to observe. The 29-year-old is a world free agent with no posting charge connected and is coming off a robust season during which he posted a 2.64 ERA in 143.1 innings. While he could also be extra of a depth contributor, there’s worth in that form of pitcher – particularly when the MLB free agent class is way weaker than regular.

Irrespective of what the Blue Jays do that low season, they have to get extra from what they have already got in place. First and foremost in that regard is Guerrero, the MVP-calibre expertise who suffered by means of a dreadful offensive season, however Okamoto is considering methods to get higher in 2027, too.

In his first flip by means of majors, he famous that “obviously some pitchers have really good stuff that really wowed me,” and he pointed to his 183 strikeouts as one thing he didn’t count on.

“I’ve never struck out this much,” mentioned Okamoto, whose earlier profession excessive was 132 strikeouts in 628 plate appearances, a 21 per cent price, in 2019 with Yomiuri. “Going through that phase of striking out a lot was tough, but I’m always working hard to improve.”

Over the course of the season, he did that as by means of his first 83 video games, he struck out 110 in 340 plate appearances, a 32.4 per cent clip, whereas over his final 73 outings, he struck out 73 instances in 296 plate appearances, a 24.7 per cent price, an affordable trade-off for his .452 slugging proportion.

“This team is a very contact-oriented lineup, but we obviously talked about hitting for power, as well, with the coaches since spring training,” mentioned Okamoto. “They reiterated the fact that they want me to hit for power and get off my A-swing every time. That’s what I’ve been doing.”

The upcoming class of Japanese free brokers could not get that far into the weeds of his numbers, however the course of behind it and all the pieces else that comes with the expertise of taking part in in Toronto for the Blue Jays is certain to be seen.

GM Ross Atkins described Okamoto’s transition as “just another demonstration that this is a good place to come and play baseball. We’ve got some attention, certainly from last year, some of our other pursuits and now a pretty significant impact on our team.”

Soon sufficient, the Blue Jays will see whether or not the following wave of Japanese stars agrees.