Better late than never as Blue Jays' major offseason addition arrives in Dunedin

It took a little bit longer than expected but the Toronto Blue Jays were finally able to welcome their new third basemen to Dunedin on Saturday morning (Feb. 14). Talk about a Valentine's Day gift, it was nothing but love when Kazuma Okamoto spoke to the Blue Jays media ahead of getting on the field for the first time at Spring Training.

Okamoto, delayed by visa issues, will only be around for a short time as he's also gearing up to play at the World Baseball Classic for Team Japan.

Better late than never as Blue Jays major offseason addition arrives in Dunedin

Okamoto may already be a fan favourite after just one Toronto media conference as he spoke to reporters saying, "Yeah, I'm very serious and very manly. Yeah, I think I can say that about myself," before he burst out laughing, according to Blue Jays reporter Hazel Mae.

He also spoke directly to Blue Jays twitter and said, "Hello everyone, I just got to camp and I'm looking forward to getting after it." The Blue Jays are certainly hoping he gets after it all season long as he'll be counted on to replace some of the lost production from Bo Bichette and Anthony Santander.

With Bichette leaving for the New York Mets in free agency and Santander going down to an injury that will require 5-6 months of recovery time, Okamoto will be looked upon to bring his high offensive skills from Japan to North America.

In 11 seasons playing in Nippon Professional Baseball, Okamoto became one of the top sluggers in the league. He belted 248 home runs and slashed .277/.361/.521 with an .882 OPS. But he'll need to work with Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins on bringing his strikeout rate down, which hovered around 18% for his career and figures to go up when facing Major League pitching.

But the fit is there from the Blue Jays side and the enthusiasm and desire is there from Okamoto's side. He told reporters that after he started having success with the Yomiuri Giants at 22-years-old, getting to MLB was his goal.

He said, "That's when I started making coming over to the major leagues my goal. It's obviously the biggest stage. It's the best league in the world. So I wanted to come over and give it a shot.”