Blue Jays big offseason addition raises some eyebrows with massive first home run

He is very serious and very manly. And his manliness was on serious display on Monday afternoon (Feb. 23). That's when Toronto Blue Jays' new third baseman Kazuma Okamoto smashed a ball to straight away centerfield in Toronto's game against the New York Mets.

The ball went 431 feet to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second and it's just the latest impressive feat early on for Okamoto, who is expected to be a big part of the Blue Jays success in 2026.

Blue Jays big offseason addition raises some eyebrows with massive first home run

What's impressive about this at-bat for Okamoto is that it came against Mets starting pitcher Clay Holmes, an eight-year veteran pitcher who was, for a time, one of the top shut down relievers in the game before transitioning into a full-time starter last season, getting 31 starts and pitching to a 3.53 ERA in 165.2 innings for the Mets.

After MLB Hall of Fame writer Jason Stark gave his nod of approval of Okamoto's defensive work last week, he chimed in again after Okamoto's home run saying, "Big moment here in Dunedin. Kazuma Okamoto just launched his first (spring) HR as a Blue Jay. 431 feet to CF, off the batter's eye. There was some wind involved, but that's not important now. This man has a sweet swing."

Additionally, this home run came off a pitch that was a sweeper that was thrown low and away from Okamoto and the 29-year-old right hander completely barreled this ball. Last season, Holmes used his sweeper 19% of the time, 25% against right-handed hitters and gave up just one home run on that pitch all season.

During his career in Nippon Professional Baseball, Okamoto hit 30+ home runs six times in his career and was regarded as one of the better "all-around" type hitters in the league. An injury limited him to 69 games last season, but he still managed to hit 15 home runs while producing a slash line of .327/.416/.598 with a 1.014 OPS.

The Blue Jays are hoping that Okamoto can make the transition from NPB to the MLB and replace some of the lost production of Bo Bichette who left via free agency this offseason to sign with the Mets, but did not play in Monday's game against the Blue Jays. It is not uncommon to see most of the big league players stay behind at their own team's complex instead of travelling on a bus to play in road games during Spring Training. However, it does feel fitting that in the early going, Okamoto is passing the tests and doing it against Bichette's new team.