Kazuma Okamoto keeps climbing some pretty impressive lists in his first season with the Toronto Blue Jays.
That continued on Friday as Okamoto smacked his 22nd home run of the year — a three-run blast that tied Shohei Ohtani for the most longballs hit by a Japanese rookie in MLB.
Okamoto gave the Blue Jays an instant dose of offence in San Diego against the Padres, driving a 2-2 sinker from Jhony Brito 377 feet over the left-field wall.
Ohtani's 22 blasts came in 2018, as the eventual AL Rookie of the Year made the transition to the majors with the Los Angeles Angels after spending five years with Nippon Professional Baseball's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Okamoto's transition to the Blue Jays comes after 11 years with the Yomiuri Giants, where he consistently ranked among the league's leaders in home runs.
Now, 22 dingers in with Toronto before the all-star break has even arrived, Okamoto will look to continue putting his name in rarified air.
Okamoto is now two home runs away from tying the Blue Jays' rookie record, which currently belongs to Eric Hinske, who blasted 24 shots in 2002.
The 30-year-old's 22 homers before the All-Star break are the most by a Blue Jays player since Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 28 and Marcus Semien’s 22 in 2021, and the most by a Toronto rookie in franchise history.
He hit his first grand slam on Wednesday at San Francisco.
Fellow Japanese rookie Munetaka Murakami rejoined the Chicago White Sox on Friday night after being sidelined for more than a month with a strained right hamstring. He was named to the AL All-Star team and added to the field for the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia.
As for the all-time rookie mark, that belongs to Pete Alonso's 53-homer 2019 campaign.
— with files from the Associated Press
