Blue Jays 3B Kazuma Okamoto breaks Shohei Ohtani's MLB record for home runs by Japanese rookie
Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Kazuma Okamoto is off to a solid start in his MLB career. And now a historic one as well.
Okamoto clubbed his 23rd homer of the season on Friday against the Boston Red Sox, breaking Shohei Ohtani's record for long balls by a Japanese rookie in MLB. He jumped on a first-pitch sinker from Boston reliever Greg Weissert and dropped it in the center field stands.
The homer was projected at 408 feet.
Obviously, Ohtani is not famous for how many homers he hit in his rookie year, but it is at least a positive milestone for a player the Blue Jays gave a four-year, $60 million deal last offseason after a decade of standout play for the Yomiuri Giants. Ohtani posted his 22 homers as a rookie in 367 plate appearances at 23 years old, compared to Okamoto's 411 PAs at 30 years old.
Okamoto hasn't quite been an All-Star with a slash line of .227/.309/.452 through 101 games, but those numbers at least qualify him to be one of the most productive bats in a profoundly disappointing season for the reigning AL champions.
This record isn't settled, either. Munetaka Murakami, the other big Japanese power bat to enter MLB this season, was on pace to be the first to break Ohtani's record until he hit the injured list with a hamstring strain in May. He's now back and sits at 20 homers.
Based on their respective rate stats, Murakami seems to have a pretty good chance to finish with more homers than Okamoto this season and claim the record, but there's a lot that can happen in the final two months of the season.
