SAN DIEGO -- Kazuma Okamoto has tied Shohei Ohtani for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player in their rookie season in Major League history, launching his 22nd Friday night in a 5-3 win over the Padres at Petco Park.
When your name shows up in the same sentence as Ohtani’s, you’re typically walking on rare ground. Tying an Ohtani rookie record before we even reach the All-Star break, though? What an accomplishment for Okamoto, the brightest star in an otherwise underwhelming season for the Blue Jays.
Ohtani hit 22 in 2018 with the Angels, his age-23 season. It wasn’t until 2021, when Ohtani was 26, that he truly broke out offensively and hit 46 home runs en route to winning his first MVP Award.
“It’s just a number,” Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima, trying to downplay the moment. “As you all know, Shohei is an awesome player. He’s a unicorn. To be able to match that record is obviously awesome. I want to do my best so that I can get closer to his level.”
Like nearly all of Okamoto’s previous home runs, it was a towering, majestic blast out to left field. The three-run shot broke the game open for the Blue Jays, putting them ahead, 5-2, after they’d fallen behind early.
In any season, Okamoto’s offensive numbers would be spectacular and he’s fully deserving of being named to the All-Star Game as a rookie, but the context of the Blue Jays’ season makes this even more important. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is stuck at five home runs in July, George Springer hasn’t been his 2025 self, and this club has spent long stretches without Alejandro Kirk and Addison Barger. If it weren’t for Okamoto, the Blue Jays may not even be involved in the Wild Card picture at this point.
“I’m running out of things to say,” said manager John Schneider. “Tying the Japanese record with 22 and he’s in some pretty elite territory with Shohei. That, and he played really good at third, he’s just doing it all right now.”
Then, Schneider called back to the first time Okamoto met with the media in Spring Training. We’ve since seen more of Okamoto’s personality come out -- his teammates will tell you he has a great sense of humor -- but back then, it showed itself only in small moments. At the end of that chat down in Dunedin, Okamoto was asked how he’d explain himself to new fans, and the Japanese star joked that he is “very serious… and very manly.”
“He’s being really manly right now,” Schneider said.
His 22 home runs are more than double Springer’s nine, who is second place on the team. Okamoto is nearly lapping the field in RBIs, too, his 62 easily leading all Blue Jays. Guerrero (38) and Andrés Giménez (37) trail behind him.
Okamoto is accomplishing all of this against new pitchers in a new league. Every road trip, this one included, is bringing him to stadiums for the first time. If Okamoto struggled up to the midway point of the season and only started to turn it on right around now, that would be completely understandable, but he’s hit the ground running in the big leagues.
“I’m obviously getting more comfortable,” Okamoto said. “I’m getting more at-bats and seeing more pitches. Myself, being in the batter’s box, I can see what’s working and what’s not. I just want to take it one game at a time and keep giving it my all.”
Soon enough, this record will belong to Okamoto alone, and it could be up to him to set a new bar for all of the Japanese rookies that come after him. He’ll have some competition from Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox, who’s at 20 homers and a rookie himself at 26 years old. He came off the IL on Friday and had been out of action since May 29. Okamoto, who turned 30 last week, has been everything the Blue Jays hoped for and more.