{"id":16548,"date":"2026-07-25T07:23:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16548"},"modified":"2026-07-25T07:23:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T02:23:42","slug":"kazuma-okamoto-breaks-shohei-ohtanis-record-for-homers-by-japanese-born-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16548","title":{"rendered":"Kazuma Okamoto breaks Shohei Ohtani&#8217;s record for homers by Japanese-born rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>BOSTON &#8212; With one big swing on Friday night at Fenway Park, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/672960\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"tag\">Kazuma Okamoto<\/a> broke Shohei Ohtani\u2019s rookie record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player, with 23.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>The Statcast-projected 408-foot shot to straightaway center finally got the Blue Jays on the board in the seventh inning, and in a quiet season for the lowest-scoring offense in Major League Baseball, Okamoto has been one of the lone bright spots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Any day your name lands in the same sentence as Ohtani\u2019s is a good one, and even though Okamoto has downplayed any milestone, his respect for his fellow Japanese star is clear. The two have also played together in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/world-baseball-classic\" target=\"_blank\">World Baseball Classic<\/a>, representing their country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a number,\u201d Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/bluejays\/news\/kazuma-okamoto-ties-shohei-ohtani-s-record-for-homers-by-japanese-born-rookie\" target=\"_blank\">when he tied the record<\/a> just prior to the All-Star break. \u201cAs you all know, Shohei is an awesome player. He\u2019s a unicorn. To be able to match that record is obviously awesome. I want to do my best so that I can get closer to his level.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Okamoto doesn\u2019t hit cheap ones, either. There are no wall-scrapers and no batted-ball luck in this new Japanese rookie record, and while Okamoto has certainly struggled with strikeouts at times, his power has been undeniable. The Blue Jays\u2019 offense has been searching for answers anywhere and everywhere, but power has been one of this group\u2019s biggest shortcomings, making Okamoto\u2019s presence all the more important.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"Styles__MarkdownContainer-dxqlie-0 iMsGag\">\n<p>Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox has hit 20 in fewer games after spending some time on the IL, and he has remarkable power to match Okamoto\u2019s if this turns into a race down the stretch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BOSTON &#8212; With one big swing on Friday night at Fenway Park, Kazuma Okamoto broke Shohei Ohtani\u2019s rookie record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player, with 23. The Statcast-projected 408-foot shot to straightaway center finally got the Blue Jays on the board in the seventh inning, and in a quiet season for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.mlbstatic.com\/mlb-images\/image\/upload\/t_2x1\/t_w1536\/v1784943650\/mlb\/gs46wxekwyfskxbffcd1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}