The Toronto Blue Jays made a flurry of moves this offseason, highlighted by the record-setting franchise-high seven-year pact they made with right-hander Dylan Cease.

On the position player side, Japanese product Kazuma Okamoto was the top billing for the Jays on the free agent side. The right-handed bat inked a four-year, $60 million deal after spending over 11 years in Japan with the Yomiuri Giants.

So far with the Jays, Okamoto has hit to a .228/.314/.433 slash line with a .747 OPS across 46 games and 171 at-bats. He’s entrenched himself as the primary third base option for Toronto, and owns a .967 fielding percentage at the hot corner to show for it with just three errors to his credit.

Returning to the plate, Okamoto has amassed a .276 BABIP, .205 ISO, and a 110 wRC+ as an everyday player. The strikeouts have been his biggest issue so far, posting a 29.4% punchout rate, but that comes with his easy swing and power he brought with him, which has resulted in five doubles and 10 home runs.

On the Jays, he leads the team with his double-digit home run total, five ahead of Andres Gimenez, Jesus Sanchez, and Daulton Varsho. Amongst qualified players, he also ranks first in RBIs (27), second in SLG, OPS, and walks, and third in OBP.

Looking at his statcast metrics, Okamoto ranks well on exit velocity, barrel %, and hard-hit %, all above the 88th percentile. He sits in the middle of the pack on numerous other offensive metrics, such as launch angle (52nd percentile) and squared-up percentage (53rd percentile), but sees a drop when it comes to his whiff% (16th percentile) and K% (13th percentile). His worst metric is his baserunning value, which sits at a -1 and ranks in the fifth percentile amongst all qualified big leaguers.

Compared to other MLB rookies, Okamoto comes in third with his home run total, seven behind fellow Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami on the Chicago White Sox. That’s one of his top-ranking values amongst other qualified rookies, and follows suit in the following categories:

From a run perspective, Okamoto is finding success crossing home plate and generating runs for the Jays, but it comes at a price. Both he and Murakami lead the qualified rookies in punchouts, with the White Sox slugger whiffing 68 times compared to Okamoto’s 57.

Running down the list, the power cateogries is still where Okamoto ranks high and then slowly starts to filter towards the contact side of the game, looking at OBP, BABIP, and his batting average. He ranks well in terms of his 22 walks, but the combination of everything is seeing his OBP a little lower than what the Jays probably were hoping for.

When looking at Okamoto’s odds for Rookie of the Year, he has some work to do if he wants to take home the top honour. Kevin McGonigle is off to a roaring start for the Detroit Tigers, and Okamoto will also have to fend off Murakami for the Award as the season wears on. Chase DeLatuer (Guardians), Parker Messick (Guardians), Carter Jensen (Royals), and teammate Trey Yesavage are also favourites for the honour, and with 2/3 of the season still to go, there is some wiggle room for the rankings to shape up differently.

For the Blue Jays and Okamoto, there is likely less pressure to take home hardware and more focus geared towards finding a rhythm in the big leagues after a successful career overseas. He’s been one of the Jays’ best power bats in a time where injuries and struggling performances at the plate have wreaked havoc on the lineup.

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