The 29-year-old Okamoto is coming off a season in which he played in just 69 Central League games for NPB’s Yomiuri Giants. The infielder hit .327/.416/.598 in 293 trips to the plate for Yomiuri last year. That was good for an otherworldly 210 wRC+, as he hit 15 home runs with 21 doubles while posting identical strikeout and walk rates of 11.3%. That scorching hot half-season doesn’t reflect Okamoto’s overall body of work, but his numbers are still impressive, even over a larger sample size. Since making his Central League debut in 2018 at the age of 22, Okamoto has never hit fewer than 27 home runs in a season. He has run at a 9.6% or better clip in every season of his career and has struck out just once more than 20% of the time in 2019 as a 23-year-old. Okamoto’s career .277/.361/.521 slash line in NPB play puts him in the league with current MLB sluggers such as Shohei Ohtani And Seiya Suzukialthough it should be noted that there is concern among scouts about Okamoto’s ability to reach high speed.
Okamoto is a decent defensive third baseman with plenty of experience at first base and could make sense as an addition at either infield corner, depending on the needs of his acquiring club. If he were to sign with the Angels, Okamoto could certainly handle the hot corner position. Yoan Moncada is a free agent after finishing third for Anaheim this past year, and Anthony Rendon numbers to retire after an injury-riddled career with the Angels. That leaves playing time wide open at third base, and the Angels have been clear about their desire to bring in help at the position this winter. While Okamoto (like any free agent coming over from NPB) comes with risks, it’s easy to see him offering an upgrade over in-house options like Oswald Peraza And Vaughn Grissom.
In contrast, it seems much more likely that Okamoto would handle first base for San Diego. Manny Machado is tentatively installed as the Padres’ third baseman, and the Hall of Famer still has the better part of a decade left on his massive contract extension with the club. However, first base is somewhat empty after the departure of Luis Arraez earlier this winter in free agency. Gavin Sheets And Month appear ready to compete for playing time at the position, but both are left-handed and better suited to other positions than the former. That could make Okamoto a very attractive addition, offering a stable right-handed bat at the position while still leaving room for Sheets and/or Song to get reps there occasionally based on matchups.
MLBTR predicted a four-year contract worth $64 million for Okamoto at the start of the offseason. Whether either club would be willing to spend money at that level to bring Okamoto into the fold remains to be seen. The Padres spent significant money on Song and right-hander this offseason Michael Kingbut after doing so, they push the boundaries of the team’s reported budget and appear to be trying to transfer salary elsewhere on the roster rather than bringing it back into the fold. As for the Angels, it was a mostly quiet offseason in Anaheim without much substantial spending. That could certainly mean there’s room in the budget to add a bat like Okamoto, but it’s also fair to wonder whether a team that has often been reluctant to spend significant dollars on position players in free agency in the years since Rendon’s disastrous contract would be willing to make a multi-year deal for a third baseman before the end of their previous third baseman’s contract is even official.
There are also other candidates for Okamoto’s services to consider. The Pirates are perhaps the team most often linked to Okamoto, and it wouldn’t be much of a shock if they saw the slugger arrive in the midst of an unusually aggressive offseason given the significant hole the club faces at third base. He has also been linked to the Blue Jays and Red Sox this season, although both major market clubs appear to be focusing on bigger fish like Alex Bregman And Bo Bichette at this point. Given the impending end of the Okamoto’s post period, it’s becoming increasingly likely that the Okamoto will sign before either Bregman or Bichette see their markets concluded. That could make a deal with Boston or Toronto a little less likely, if those two clubs hesitate to fill a roster spot that could otherwise be reserved for a more impactful player.
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