[WINTER BASEBALL NOTE] Kazuma Okamoto heads to MLB with the Blue Jays.
Kazuma Okamoto (29), who had been aiming to move to the majors from the Yomiuri Giants via the posting system, has officially agreed to a four-year, $60 million contract (approx. 9.4 billion yen) with the Toronto Blue Jays as of January 5 (Japan time). He completed his medical just before the negotiation deadline, and the club has made the deal official.
On their official X (Twitter) account, the Blue Jays not only posted an English press release but also shared a Japanese message reading 「契約合意しました」 (“We have reached an agreement”) along with a highlight video. In another post they added Japanese captions such as 「ブルージェイズへようこそ」「若大将」 (“Welcome to the Blue Jays” / “Wakadaisho”), rolling out an unusually warm welcome for their new clean-up candidate while looping home run clips from his NPB days.
Contract details: 4 years, $60 million + approx. 1.7 billion yen posting fee for the Giants
According to multiple U.S. outlets and reports from NPB and MLB officials, the framework of the deal is as follows:
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Contract term | 4 years (2026–2029 seasons) |
| Total value | $60 million guaranteed (approx. 9.4 billion yen) |
| Breakdown | $5 million signing bonus + $7 million salary in 2026, $16 million per year from 2027–29 |
| Opt-out | None (straight four-year deal with no early opt-out) |
| Posting fee | $10.875 million (approx. 1.7 billion yen) paid to the Yomiuri Giants |
| Listed position | Third baseman (with the possibility of playing first base / left field in the future) |
The average annual value works out to roughly $15 million (around 2.3–2.4 billion yen). It’s one of the top evaluations among this winter’s posting class, and the absence of an opt-out in a fixed four-year deal underlines just how serious the club is about this move.
NPB résumé: six straight 30-HR seasons & WBC final homer as “Wakadaisho”
Okamoto spent 11 seasons with the Giants, posting 248 career home runs, a .277 batting average, and an OPS in the .900 range (per U.S. wire reports such as AP) and establishing himself as one of NPB’s premier power hitters. His run of six consecutive 30-homer seasons from 2018 to 2023 ranks among the most consistent stretches ever produced by a Japanese right-handed slugger.
| Season | Club | Games | AVG | HR | RBI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Giants | 120 | .275 | 31 | 97 |
| 2021 | Giants | 143 | .265 | 39 | 113 |
| 2023 | Giants | 143 | .278 | 41 | 93 |
| Career | Giants | 1,074 | .277 | 248 | High 700s |
On the international stage, he left an indelible mark at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. In the championship game against Team USA, Okamoto launched a solo shot off left-hander Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies. That home run stood up as the game-winning run and will long be remembered as the “deciding blast” that helped deliver Japan another world title.
How does he fit in the Blue Jays lineup? Coexisting with Guerrero Jr.
Because the Blue Jays already have one of the league’s most fearsome sluggers in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at first base, many U.S. media outlets project that “Okamoto will be the everyday third baseman, with occasional time in left field depending on the situation.”
The 2025 Blue Jays captured the AL East crown but ultimately fell to the Dodgers in the World Series. This offseason, they have been aggressively upgrading on both sides of the ball, and Okamoto arrives as “the last big right-handed bat” they were looking for to push them over the top.
| Projected lineup spot | Position |
|---|---|
| 1st – George Springer | RF |
| 2nd – Bo Bichette | SS |
| 3rd – Vladimir Guerrero Jr. | 1B |
| 4th – Kazuma Okamoto | 3B / LF |
| 5th – Daulton Varsho | CF / LF |
| 6th – Alejandro Kirk | C |
The actual starting nine will of course be fluid, but for a Blue Jays lineup that had been relatively short on right-handed power, Okamoto’s presence also looks like a major upgrade as a middle-of-the-order threat against left-handed pitching.
Ninth Japanese player in Blue Jays history
The Blue Jays are no strangers to Japanese talent. Okamoto becomes the club’s ninth Japanese player, following the names below.
| Player | Position | Years with club |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Nakamura | P | 2004 |
| Tomokazu Ohka | P | 2007 |
| Ryota Igarashi | P | 2010 |
| Munetaka Kawasaki | INF | 2013–2014 |
| Nori Aoki | OF | 2017 |
| Shun Yamaguchi | P | 2020 |
| Yusei Kikuchi | P | 2022–2024 |
| Gosuke Katoh | INF | 2023 |
| Kazuma Okamoto | INF | From 2026 |
Munetaka Kawasaki and Yusei Kikuchi, in particular, became fan favourites not only for their on-field performance but also for their personalities. In Okamoto’s case, fans in Toronto will be expecting not just home runs but also the bright, confident charisma that earned him the nickname “Wakadaisho” (“young boss”) in Japan.
X & YouTube: official posts fuel the “Wakadaisho” buzz
Below is a selection of posts from official and reliable accounts related to the signing. (Depending on your environment, embedded posts may take a while to load.)
Blue Jays official X – “契約合意しました” (“We’ve reached an agreement”)
Japanese media quick to react – “契約合意しました” in the headlines
YouTube – local media break down the signing
Column: from Giants’ cleanup man to cleanup candidate for Canada’s only MLB team
From the undisputed no. 4 hitter of the Yomiuri Giants to the new cleanup candidate of Canada’s only MLB franchise – Okamoto’s career has reached a major turning point.
The mantle of “Giants cleanup hitter” heading to MLB is something we haven’t seen since Hideki Matsui. On the other side of the Pacific, however, he’ll now face a very different landscape: relievers sitting in the mid-90s mph as the norm, heavy movement, and a relentless schedule. At 29, this isn’t an especially early jump, but many scouts believe that his experience anchoring the lineup in Japan – along with the big-game poise he showed with that WBC final homer – will translate.
For Giants fans, his move stirs up memories of title races fought with their big bat at the heart of the order – and at the same time, a sense of excitement:
“Will we get to see a sequel to that WBC game-winner, this time on an MLB stage?”
In Toronto in 2026, how far will he be able to carve out a new legend? The Blue Jays chapter of ‘Wakadaisho’ Kazuma Okamoto has only just begun.
