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Blue Jays: Kazuma Okamoto is finding stability at the plate
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Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Jun 22, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Jun 22, 2026, 09:10 EDT
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Kazuma Okamoto’s first season with the Toronto Blue Jays has been a mismatch between expectations and reality—for better and for worse.
Okamoto was one of Nippon Professional Baseball’s most accomplished stars during his eleven seasons in Japan. He crushed 277 home runs with the Yomiuri Giants while maintaining solid batting averages and on-base percentages. 
Scouts questioned how his power would translate overseas and were skeptical of his ability to play a competent third base. His bat-to-ball skills were supposed to be his calling card. It’s rather incredible just how wrong everyone seems to have been. 
Instead, power has been Okamoto’s calling card thus far as his 16 home runs lead the Blue Jays by a wide margin. He’s also played solid defence at the hot corner. The main hole in his game, however, has those bat-to-skills that were supposed to be a strength. 
Okamoto entered Monday with the sixth-most strikeouts in baseball (99). This is largely the result of a 34.3% whiff rate that ranks in the seventh percentile among qualified hitters—he swings and misses more than just about anybody else in MLB.
The early returns weren’t pretty; Okamoto struck out 29 times in 90 at-bats en route to posting an abysmal .602 OPS in April. He bounced back with seven home runs and a .774 OPS in May, but actually struck out even more. He’s struck out a staggering 22 times in 61 at-bats in June yet managed a .863 OPS in what has unquestionably been his best month as a Blue Jay. 
It seems that, contrary to popular belief, Okamoto hasn’t found stability by striking out less—he’s found it by selling out to hit more baseballs over the fence.
Okamoto is making a conscious effort to elevate when he’s at the plate; roughly 44% of his batted balls this season have been fly balls. This, coupled with a 51.1% pull rate, has helped him tap into his raw power. 
That power is legit: Okamoto’s 92.6 mph average exit velocity and 50.6% put him in elite territory. Good things happen for him and the Blue Jays when his bat makes contact with the baseball. Case in point: the home run he hit into the fifth deck at Rogers Centre.
What’s also important to recognize is that Okamoto isn’t a total free swinger like his teammate Ernie Clement. His 25.9% chase rate at pitches outside the zone ranks in the 72nd percentile. He’s also walking 9.5% of the time, which is above average. There is some discipline to his approach. 
Still, with all that said, Okamoto will need to strike out less if he wants to be a .270 hitter like he was in Japan rather than someone who hovers around the .230 mark. He simply isn’t making enough contact to raise that number above where it currently sits. 
Trimming the strikeouts could take time if it happens at all. The good news for the Blue Jays is that Okamoto has nonetheless found a path to success at the plate while swinging and missing as he does. 

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