Kazuma Okamoto

Okamoto was born on June 30, 1996 in Gojō, Nara, Japan. Okamoto began playing catch with his older brother at around the age of three, and joined his first baseball team when he joined elementary school. From fourth grade to sixth grade, Okamoto was a pitcher and infielder, and batted cleanup for his little league team. In junior high school, Okamoto was able to throw pitches at 135 km/h (84 mph), standing 180 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall and weighed 83 kg (182 lbs).^[1]

Okamoto attended Chiben Gakuen for high school. He had planned to attend Chiben Gakuen since he was young, hoping to play in the Koshien for one of the most prestigious schools in his area.^[2] He began his first year on the bench but became the team's cleanup hitter by fall.^[3] He hit eight home runs in his first year, with Chiben Gakuen losing in the Nara prefectural tournament. In his second year of high school, Okamoto hit 48 home runs.^[4]

In 2014, Okamoto first played in the Spring Koshien in his third and final year of high school. On his debut, Okamoto became the 19th player in the tournament's history to hit two home runs in a single game.^[5] Chiben Gakuen fell in the second round of the tournament to Sano Nichidai. In the 2014 Nara prefectural tournament, Okamoto went 10-for-18, with three home runs.^[5] In that year's Summer Koshien, Chiben Gakuen lost in their first round matchup, with Okamoto recording two hits and one run batted in (RBI).^[6] He finished his high school career with 73 home runs.^[3]

Okamoto was selected by the Yomiuri Giants in the first round of the 2014 Nippon Professional Baseball Draft.^[7] After being drafted, Okamoto signed a contract worth 12 million yen annually, with an 80 million yen signing bonus.^[8]

Okamoto made his Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) debut with the Yomiuri Giants in 2015. He was selected as an NPB all-star six times, and was named the Central League Climax Series MVP in 2019. In 2020, he led the Central League in home runs and runs batted in (RBI).^[9]

His nickname, "The Young General", was given to him and was adapted from his former manager, Tatsunori Hara.^[10]

During the 2025 Nippon Professional Baseball season, Okamoto only played 69 games and hit 15 home runs, missing half the games after an elbow injury from colliding with another player.^[11] Before that, from 2018-2024, he had consistently hit 25 homers or more. Okamoto has also led his league in home runs in three seasons.^[11]

During the 2025-26 offseason, the Giants posted Okamoto to Major League Baseball.^[12] On January 4, 2026, the Toronto Blue Jays signed Okamoto to a four-year, $60 million contract.^[13] During his introductory press conference, Okamoto said that in addition to Toronto being a title contender as a reason for signing, he had asked his daughter to choose her favourite logo from among all the MLB teams, and she had picked out the Jays logo.^[11] He hit his first home run against the Athletics on March 29, in a 5–2 win.^[14]

Okamoto is also a member of the Japan national baseball team. He participated in the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series^[15] and Japan's 2019 exhibition series against Mexico.^[16]

Okamoto played for Japan at the 2014 Under-18 Asian Baseball Championship.^[3]

At the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), Okamoto was a key part of Japan's championship win, scoring two runs and hitting a solo home run in the final against the United States.^[11]

Okamoto played for Japan again at the 2026 WBC.^[17] He had four hits in five games as Japan lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Venezuela.^[18][19]