Schneider Comfortable With Okamoto’s Blue Jays Onboarding as Training Camp Breaks

After playing 11 seasons with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yomiuri Giants, Kazuma Okamoto in January signed a four-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider is impressed at how Kazuma Okamoto is adapting to the MLB fundamentals this spring. Courtesy of Donald Laible

Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider likes what he has seen from Kazuma Okamoto this spring.

Coming as close as a team can to winning a World Series, though coming up short at the very end while playing in their home stadium, it was a foregone conclusion that Toronto would tweak its roster this past offseason. Losing their longtime shortstop Bo Bichette to free agency expedited Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins’ decision to make a splash with available international talent. Reaching a four-year, $60 million contract with Okamoto in January went a long way in reaffirming to Canadian baseball fans that returning to the October postseason is a priority.