Nippon Professional Baseball has seen a number of elite pitchers make the transition to the major leagues and experience immediate success. Los Angeles Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto carried his team to a World Series win in 2025, and Chicago Cubs standout Shota Imanaga contended for the Cy Young award as a rookie in 2024.
There have been far fewer hitters to successfully make that transition in recent years, but the Toronto Blue Jays are betting Kazuma Okamoto can reverse that trend after reportedly agreeing to a deal with the Japanese third baseman, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
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Terms of the deal have not been announced.
Okamoto, 29, comes to the majors after a fantastic season with the Yomiuri Giants in which he hit .327/.416/.598 with 15 home runs in just 69 games. He missed time due to a left elbow injury, which limited his numbers. In the seven seasons prior to 2025, Okamoto averaged 33.1 home runs and 138.5 games played per season, so he has proven to be both productive and durable.
Okamoto, a third baseman, brings an excellent plate approach to the majors. He typically hits for a high average, with a double-digit walk rate and prodigious pop. He’s able to do all that despite a fairly low strikeout rate, making him a pretty complete hitter.
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Some of his numbers could regress in the majors, though it’s worth noting that Okamoto set some career highs on offense last season despite offense being down across NPB. Some of his excellence came thanks to improved numbers against velocity, per FanGraphs, a critical skill for any player coming to MLB.
Two things could hold Okamoto back in the majors. The first is his age. He will be 30 in June, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s already in the decline phase of his career. He might have only a few seasons of strong production left before his skills more naturally erode.
The second involves the recent track record of star hitters from NPB joining the majors. There hasn’t been a large sample in recent years, with just Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki and Boston Red Sox designated hitter Masataka Yoshida. Then there’s Shohei Ohtani, of course, though it’s impossible to compare him to other players given his two-way value. While Suzuki has established himself as a solid middle-of-the-order bat on a good team, Yoshida has struggled to find his footing in the majors.
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That said, Okamota has some experience excelling against major-league players, albeit in an incredibly small sample. He was a force in the 2023 World Baseball Classic for Team Japan, posting a 1.278 OPS in the event, per MLB.com. He played a key role in Japan winning the event, homering off Team USA pitcher Kyle Freeland in the championship game.
Prior to the start of the 2025 MLB season, Okamoto and the Yomiuri Giants faced off against the Cubs as Chicago prepared to open its season in Tokyo. Okamoto went 2-for-3 against the Cubs, with two RBI and a strikeout.
With the Blue Jays, Okamoto will be out to prove that success can continue in a larger sample.
