{"id":111551,"date":"2026-01-03T16:35:44","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=111551"},"modified":"2026-01-03T16:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T21:35:44","slug":"how-kazuma-okamoto-fits-in-toronto-as-we-open-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/01\/03\/how-kazuma-okamoto-fits-in-toronto-as-we-open-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kazuma Okamoto fits in Toronto as we open 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American League representatives in the 2025 World Series are trying to ensure that, at this point next year, people will be calling them champions. After an offseason that has already seen the Toronto Blue Jays already bring back Shane Bieber<\/a>, add<\/a> Dylan Cease<\/a>, and bring Cody Ponce<\/a> from Korea, another move was made this afternoon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Blue Jays and Japanese third baseman Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> have agreed on a deal that will bring the former Yomiuri Giant to Toronto<\/a>. The contract is four years and $60 million with no opt-outs. In 77 games last season, Okamoto hit .327 with 15 home runs and 51 RBI\u2019s, while getting on-base at a .411 clip.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over Okamoto\u2019s 11 career seasons in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, the 29-year-old has a slash line of .277\/.361\/.521, to go with 248 career home runs and 717 RBIs. Okamoto has also been productive on the defensive side of the ball, having won Golden Glove Awards in Japan at both third and first base. The infielder has won two of these awards at third and one at first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Okamoto was a key piece at the 2023 World Baseball Classic for a Japanese team that won gold. Through seven games played, Okamoto batted .333 with two home runs and seven RBIs, taking Colorado Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland deep in the championship game against the United States.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Okamoto was one of three Japanese players from the NPB to be posted this winter, joining Munetaka Murakami who signed with the Chicago White Sox and Tatsuya Imai who recently signed with the Houston Astros.\u00a0Okamoto\u2019s signing window closed at 5 p.m. EST on Saturday, signing the deal just prior to the deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How does Kazuma Okamoto fit in Toronto?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Okamoto appears to be in line to become Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a>\u2019s backup first baseman, similar to the roles Will Wagner<\/a> and Ty France<\/a> occupied last season, giving Guerrero Jr. a day-off or designated hitter start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The right-handed bat looks to share time at third base with Addison Barger<\/a>, who hits from the left side. Last season, Barger appeared in 135 games, with 91 of those coming at the hot corner. Barger hit .243 with 21 home runs and 74 RBIs. Ernie Clement<\/a> was one of the other Blue Jays to see regular action at third, appearing 89 times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Clement has the ability to slot in at second base, shortstop and first base, giving the Blue Jays flexibility to add Okamoto. Andr\u00e9s Gim\u00e9nez<\/a> is the other Blue Jay under contract, splitting time at second base and shortstop, taking over the position in September when Bo Bichette<\/a> missed time with a PCL Sprain in the 27-year-old\u2019s knee.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What does this mean for Bo Bichette?<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Blue Jays face an infield logjam after signing Okamoto to join Guerrero Jr., Barger, Clement, and Gim\u00e9nez. That includes an outfield that saw Daulton Varsho<\/a>, George Springer<\/a>, Anthony Santander<\/a>, Nathan Lukes<\/a>, Myles Straw<\/a>, Davis Schneider<\/a>, Joey Loperfido,<\/a> and Jonatan Clase<\/a> all see playing time last season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bichette represents the top of the free agent market, after batting .311 with 18 home runs and 94 RBIs in 2025. The Blue Jays would love to bring Bichette back but to this point in the offseason, the Bichette news front has been relatively quiet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As February gets closer and spring training awaits, the Blue Jays are not sitting back and waiting for any player’s market to drag on, signifying the desire to win the team\u2019s first World Series since 1993.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Top Image Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American League representatives in the 2025 World Series are trying to ensure that, at this point next year, people will be calling them champions. After an offseason that has already seen the Toronto Blue Jays already bring back Shane Bieber, add Dylan Cease, and bring Cody Ponce from Korea, another move was made this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5720,"featured_media":106834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1071],"tags":[29130,36],"class_list":["post-111551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bluejays","category-mlb","tag-kazuma-okamoto","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"modified_by":"Matthew Nethercott, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111551"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111568,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111551\/revisions\/111568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}