2 Blue Jays Offseason Acquisitions Producing Eye-Opening Numbers This Spring

There are so many faces to keep an eye on this spring for the Toronto Blue Jays. General manager Ross Atkins made multiple roster improvements during the offseason, making the Blue Jays a heavy favorite in the American League.

Toronto hasn't had the prettiest start to spring training, holding a 2-7 record, but game results hardly matter right now. What matters is prospect development and new players getting settled in with their ball club.

Two offseason acquisitions have stood out on Statcast so far.

Kazuma Okamoto

David Adler of MLB.com noted that Statcast tracking will be available for every ballpark this spring, which means more data will be offered for each player. It's particularly exciting to track a hitter with Kazuma Okamoto's talents.

Okamoto signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Blue Jays as a highly coveted bat from Japan. So far in spring training, his powerful swing has stood out.

According to Adler, "Five of Okamoto's seven batted balls were hard-hit (95-plus mph), including the 103.4 mph, 431-foot homer he crushed to dead center field off a Clay Holmes low-and-away curveball for his first of the spring.

Kazuma Okamoto clubs his first @BlueJays home run! pic.twitter.com/0A8XmqCGAD
— MLB (@MLB) February 23, 2026

The home run was incredibly impressive. It wasn't a bad pitch by Holmes, but rather a better swing from Okamoto. His swing has received praise from his teammates, including Ernie Clement, who said Okamoto has "one of the smoothest right-handed swings you're ever going to see," according to Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.

Toronto fans should be excited about Okamoto if he continues to generate powerful swings like we've seen so far in spring training. For now, he'll join Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

Cody Ponce

Cody Ponce's three-year, $30 million deal was overlooked, but Toronto could be getting a solid starting pitcher. Ponce returns to the MLB after an impressive stint in Korea, where he reinvented his repertoire.

Most notably, he developed a kick change that was hard to hit. Adler notes, "The changeup Ponce learned overseas looks nasty, sitting at 89 mph with a super low spin rate of 780 rpm, which should give it strong tumbling movement even at its high velocity for an offspeed pitch."

His fastball velocity has also increased, currently sitting at around 96 mph. That is a three-mph increase from his last stint in the majors. Ponce has made two starts this spring. He threw one inning against the Detroit Tigers, where he didn't allow a base runner and struck out two. Ponce went two innings in his next start, allowing one run with a pair of strikeouts.

The Blue Jays have a crowded starting rotation, led by Dylan Cease and Kevin Gausman. However, it's clear Ponce has made the necessary adjustments and is seeking a positive second chance in the pros.