Kazuma Okamoto Continues Historic Season and Breaks 24-Year-Old Record
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For a moment, the Blue Jays were living the excitement of an offensive scene they had not been able to enjoy all year: George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. going back-to-back with two outs to give the team a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning in the third game of the series at home against the Baltimore Orioles.
So when Kazuma Okamoto stepped to the plate to face left-hander Trevor Rogers, the feeling that another great at-bat was coming was inevitable.
Rogers got ahead 1-2 in the count, getting Okamoto to swing through a changeup low on the outside corner. After falling behind 1-2, Okamoto had posted his second-lowest OPS (.503) in any two-strike count, so the odds of success were not high.
On the next pitch, Rogers tried to go back to the outside corner with a fastball that Okamoto took. Catcher Samuel Basallo challenged the pitch and missed it. The count went to 2-2. Then came another pitch well outside that Okamoto took, bringing the count to 3-2.
Rogers kept throwing pitches to the outer corner, two low and one high. Okamoto fouled off each of them, and the at-bat extended to a ninth pitch. Rogers chose to throw his fastball again, Okamoto crushed the 95.6 mph four-seamer and hit a thunderous 410-foot home run to left field at Rogers Centre.
Back-to-Back-to-Back!
OKAMOTO-SAN!
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 13, 2026
A LASER! pic.twitter.com/zZEAu6W4U6
The Blue Jays crowd went wild, witnessing three consecutive home runs from Springer, Guerrero Jr. and Okamoto for the first time, the three main hitters Toronto has been waiting on to provide a spark all season. Springer reached 15 home runs and Vladdy nine on the year, while Guerrero Jr. finally snapped a streak that had stretched to 74 games and 288 plate appearances without hitting a home run at home. Okamoto has surpassed the power production of both with 32 home runs and 85 RBIs, another number that added to another record for the Japanese third baseman.
Inside Okamoto’s Unmatched Season
Before getting to the records and feats Okamoto is putting together, let’s go back for a moment to that fifth-inning at-bat. Okamoto has recorded 588 plate appearances this season and has played in 144 of Toronto’s 150 games. However, he had never survived six pitches after falling behind 1-2 following the first three pitches of an at-bat.
In fact, it was only the third at-bat of the entire season in which Okamoto had seen nine pitches, per baseball-reference. He had never gone beyond that. Now he has three nine-pitch at-bats, nine eight-pitch at-bats and 17 seven-pitch at-bats. In other words, throughout the season, he has resolved his at-bats with more aggression than long counts.
Overall, Okamoto has hit 22 of his 32 home runs within the first four pitches, and only six in at-bats with five or more pitches. That has not limited his production in two-strike counts, as he has reached 10 home runs, but he has been much more vulnerable in longer counts. Then, the interesting point is not only how he survived Rogers’ pitches like never before in any at-bat this year, but the way his swing continues to destroy mistakes. Okamoto has been very consistent when attacking pitches in his hot zones, which tend to be a mix of pitches in the middle and on the outside part of the zone, along with pitches he hits in the lower-inside part of the zone. Let’s look at the heat map.
Rogers missed precisely on his attempt to place his fastball in the lower vertical area where Okamoto had hit the most home runs all season. He now has eight home runs in that area and a .310 batting average. If you look at the rest of the batting averages, you will see that a mistake in command can make the big difference between Okamoto destroying the pitch or ending up missing it. That ability has helped the Japanese third baseman hit 21 home runs against fastballs this year, the second-most among right-handed hitters, behind only Junior Caminero (22) of the Tampa Bay Rays and Pete Alonso (22) of the Orioles.
Although Okamoto’s power impact has been much greater against fastballs, his slugging is elite against all three pitch groups: .497 against fastballs, and .424 and .412 against breaking balls and offspeed pitches, respectively.
Okamoto’s New Record
Let’s talk about records now. Yes, we already know that every Okamoto home run is a rookie record in franchise history after he passed the 24 hit by Eric Hinske in 2002. But now the story goes beyond that, as with his home run Sunday, Okamoto also passed Hinske with 85 RBIs.
In 2002, after 25 years, Hinske broke Doug Ault’s record of 64 RBIs from 1977, and this season, 24 years later, Okamoto is establishing a new mark with 85 RBIs. The Blue Jays have 12 games left to play and, although it seems a little more difficult, Okamoto could also approach 100 RBIs, a number that only one Japanese hitter has reached in his rookie season, Hideki Matsui, who drove in 106 runs with the Yankees in 2003.
Throughout the season, Okamoto has been the team’s top hitter, but if both Springer and Guerrero Jr. also heat up, Toronto could become a very difficult opponent heading into October.
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Yirsandy is a baseball writer specializing in MLB coverage with experience across multiple teams and storylines. He currently writes for Diamond Centric, where he covers the New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers, and Kansas City Royals. My work focuses on game coverage, player analysis, and storytelling that connects performance with context. My Substack has also been an important part of my writing development, where I’ve built much of my baseball coverage and storytelling voice over time. I’m passionate about combining reporting, research, and thoughtful analysis to produce engaging baseball content for readers.
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