DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Saturday morning, it felt like a celebrity was roaming the Blue Jays’ complex. You could tell where Kazuma Okamoto was, even if you didn’t see him.
Everywhere Okamoto went, there was motion. Ten Japanese reporters and camera operators followed his every move, first trying to get a glimpse of Okamoto inside the Blue Jays’ batting cages, where the shade and all of those fences create a shroud of mystery.
Right alongside Okamoto for every step was a handful of Blue Jays staff, including his interpreter, Yusuke Oshima, and Gosuke Katoh, Toronto’s assistant to Major League operations and a former big leaguer himself. By the time Okamoto walked those 50 steps across the concrete to Field 1 to play catch and take ground balls, everyone followed. The longtime star for the Yomiuri Giants is a big deal in Japan, and Saturday morning, we all saw what that means.
All of this is new to Okamoto. Every road he has driven down and every room he has stepped into since landing in the United States on Friday evening is new. By the time Okamoto stood in front of the media backdrop for the first time, though, some of the personality we’ve heard so much about came out. Asked to describe himself, Okamoto grinned and started.
“I’m very serious … and very manly,” Okamoto said through Oshima before breaking into a laugh. “I think I can say that about myself.”
There will be language barriers and one thousand small things for Okamoto to adapt to in the coming weeks and months, but it’s already easy to see how well he’ll fit in with his new team. A few home runs won’t hurt, either. The Blue Jays gave Okamoto a four-year, $60 million deal to jump to the big leagues from Japan because they believe his offense will translate immediately. Those challenges will come, including a league stacked with new pitchers, but for now, there’s only excitement.
“I couldn’t wait to get here. On the flight, I was just amped up to get here,” Okamoto said.
After Okamoto arrived Friday evening, he came straight to Toronto’s complex and began the long process of familiarizing himself with his new team and new life. The Blue Jays have invested heavily in staff and resources to help ease these transitions for players, but Okamoto’s will still take some time.
Each day, manager John Schneider wants to sit down with Okamoto at least once.
“Having Yusei [Kikuchi] here gave us a bit of a blueprint, but this is a big adjustment. It’s a lot,” Schneider said. “It’s not just the league but his life and his family’s. We’re going to work through that with him as we go and try to make it as seamless as possible.
“It’s a big jump coming over here. You’re leaving everything you know and what you’ve been doing your whole life. We want to work with him, and we feel like we’re pretty well armed with some ideas, too.”
For the first few days, it will be like anyone starting a new job. Learn everyone’s names. Learn where the lunch room is. Get lost a few times and figure it out.
“It was awesome. I was blown away as soon as I got in,” Okamoto said. “It’s very big. You can easily get lost. Just walking around outside, too, you can get to places very easily and it’s all within a good walking distance. I’m very impressed.”
Baseball itself will be the most important part of Okamoto’s transition, because that’s his comfort zone. In the coming days, the usual rounds of batting practice, ground balls and baserunning drills will help with the familiarity and create all kinds of moments for Okamoto to naturally integrate himself to this new team. Besides, this is the moment he has dreamed of for years now.
Okamoto points to his age-22 season in Japan, when he truly broke out with Yomiuri. That year, Okamoto hit .309 with 33 home runs and a .935 OPS, one of the most productive years of his career to date. That’s when he began to set his sights on playing in Major League Baseball one day, knowing that he could take one more step to challenge himself.
“It’s the biggest stage. It’s the big leagues,” Okamoto said. “This is the best league in the world. I wanted to come over and give it a shot.”
Saturday in Dunedin, with all of the commotion around him, Okamoto finally took those first official steps with the Blue Jays.