Introduction of Blue Jays' new slugger Kazuma Okamoto leaves more questions than answers

The Blue Jays introduced their newest slugger, Kazuma Okamoto, to the Toronto media on Tuesday.

Okamoto gave a brief and somewhat robotic statement introducing himself and thanking the Jays for the opportunity and promised to work hard.

However, even with the benefit of a translator, Okamoto did not provide much more of a window into the person that he is.

At various times throughout the question-and-answer period, translator Gino Gordon — a member of the Boras Corporation whose founder and owner Scott Boras serves as Okamoto’s agent — laughed at responses from Okamoto, suggesting there is a real sense of humour there, but neglected to translate that portion of the response to those in attendance.

At one point, Gordon was asked point blank what he was laughing at following an exchange with Okamoto and only explained: “He’s got an interesting personality, that’s all.”

As a translator, Gordon clearly fell short of his duties, paraphrasing all of Okamoto’s responses and making any direct quoting of the slugger, short of his own abbreviated introduction, impossible.

Here are a few more takeaways from the afternoon.

WHAT DID WE LEARN?

The Blue Jays owe a debt of gratitude to their logo and Okamoto’s daughter for his decision to sign in Toronto.

While he admitted he very much liked the city of Toronto and was impressed with the support he saw from the fanbase during the World Series, a major turning point in his decision came when Okamoto presented the logos of every MLB team to his daughter and asked her which one she liked most.

Her reply was the Blue Jays and that stuck with her dad through his decision process.

HOW WILL OKAMOTO BE USED?

That remains unclear. While he is open to playing either first or third base — both positions he played for the Yomiuri Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan — Okamoto said he was willing to play wherever his team needed him most.

Capable of both power (248 career home runs over nine seasons) and an ability to get on base (a career .277 hitter with a .366 on base percentage), Okamoto will be in the top half of the Jays lineup. He has played both first and third, plus some outfield, though 52 of this games last season came at third and the other 27 were at first.

The party line from all involved is it was still a conversation that will be had between management and the player.

WHAT NUMBER WILL HE WEAR?

Okamoto will wear No. 7, a number he has always wanted to wear since he turned professional but was not available to him with Yomiuri.

He considers the No. 7 lucky.

DOES HE HAVE ANY NICKNAMES?

From Boras, Okamoto has been called “The Big Oak.”

When he was with the Giants he was called “Big Baby” and, by his former manager there he was referred to as “The Young General.”

Okamoto himself seems to be fine with ‘Kazu,’ according to his translator.

WHAT DO THE JAYS LIKE ABOUT HIS GAME?

GM Ross Atkins was like a kid unwrapping his favourite Christmas gift as he explained how much the Jays covet their new slugger.

“It’s been exciting to watch him over the years,” Atkins said. “He has had an incredible career thus far. The impact on both sides of the ball, the offensive abilities are as dynamic as it comes. It fits us very well.

“The contact ability against high velo, against all types of pitching, really any calibre of pitching — he has been able to not only make contact, but drive the ball which is about as good of a complement as we could ask for.”

ARE THE JAYS DONE ADDING?

Atkins did his best to provide an answer for this without really providing any real insight.

“You have heard me say probably too many times to count that we will always be open to making our organization and team better … we have made it better so we do feel good about our team,” Atkins said. “One thing I would add is that any additions at this point would start to cut away at playing time for players that we feel are very good Major League pieces, so we would have to factor that in.

“But we have always had incredible support from ownership. “

WHAT ABOUT BO BICHETTE SPECIFICALLY? DOES THIS SIGNING IMPACT HIM COMING BACK OR NOT?

Again, Atkins was less than forthcoming on this question.

“All the things I have said previously, if there is an opportunity for us to think about as far as improving the organization we are going to always lean into creative ways to do so and we have always had incredible support,” he said.

WHAT ABOUT OKAMOTO’S INJURY LAST SEASON?

The elbow injury Okamoto sustained last May that limited him to just 69 games did not come up on Tuesday.

He sustained the injury playing first base as he reached for an off-target throw from his third baseman and collided solidly with the on-coming baserunner.

The injury occurred in Game No. 32 of the season, so he did return and play an additional 37 games after that. He had seven more homers and 24 RBIs in those final 37 games.

It was the first significant injury in nine seasons for Okamoto, who has been very durable throughout his career.

mganter@postmedia.com