TORONTO -- Baseball players love traditions, whether they want to call them daily habits or full-blown superstitions. They connect players, and as Kazuma Okamoto has grown closer to some of his Blue Jays teammates, they’ve started a new tradition of their own.
Starting on the recent road trip and now each day prior to the game, a group of Blue Jays players and staff get together in the dugout to talk about something they’re thankful for. It’s informal, anywhere from heartfelt to funny, and is just another daily way for Okamoto to be “part of it” with his new team.
“I think it makes Kaz feel a bit more welcomed or a bit more part of it,” manager John Schneider said. “Baseball players do weird stuff before the game, during the game and after the game. I think it’s cool that he’s blended in with some people before the game. Everyone has their own handshake, their own this and that. The more stuff we can do like that for him, I think it’s really good for him.”
We’re seeing Okamoto’s big personality on the field and in the dugout, and while he’s typically more reserved in front of the media, he cracked a big smile when he talked about this new tradition following Saturday’s 5-3 win, in which he homered for the second consecutive day.
“It’s a little secret between all of us,” Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima.
Okamoto and Oshima are part of the group along with Gosuke Katoh, team dietician Yuka Sanui and Eloy Jimenez. Schneider said he’s also seen Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and coach Drew Butera involved, and these things tend to grow, especially when Okamoto is attached to something.
“He’s really likeable. He’s really funny,” Schneider said. “Results help, too. He’s going good and he’s been going really good the last week, so that helps. Immediately, it was easy to see that he’s a guy you can gravitate towards. He’s funny. I wish you guys could hang around him in the dugout a bit because he’s really funny and guys enjoy that.”
These moments sound small, but they’re so important. Okamoto is still in the early days of his transition to Major League Baseball and life in North America, where every week brings new pitchers, new stadiums and new challenges. Again on Saturday, he thanked his teammates for having his back, and Schneider has gone out of his way to support Okamoto any time that his early struggles have brought questions from the media.
We saw flashes of Okamoto’s personality in Spring Training. Asked to describe himself on the opening days of camp, he said that he was “very serious… and very manly.”
Guerrero essentially adopted Okamoto in spring, working together with him extra after drills ended each day. The two shared a batting practice group all spring, too, and have their own handshake, ending in a bow. He seems to be everybody’s favorite teammate these days, even as they work around the language barrier.
“I walked through the clubhouse last night. Him and (Jesús) Sánchez were having a full-blown conversation,” Schneider said. “I don’t know how that was going. I didn’t even ask what they were talking about.”
The Blue Jays pour a ton of time and resources into working with players and their families to make all of this “newness” feel comfortable, but organic things like this daily huddle will always be most valuable.
It got Schneider thinking of what he was grateful for, and it was an easy answer.
“I’m thankful for Kaz right now,” Schneider said.
Okamoto, pausing for a moment to scan the dozen reporters and cameras around him following Saturday’s win, grinned and gave a crowd-pleasing answer.
“I’m grateful for the media members, always,” he said.