Kazuma Okamoto headshot

Kazuma Okamoto

Toronto Blue Jays · 3B · through 2026-09-11

On the league boards

Why he matters right now

Kazuma Okamoto is top-10 in the majors in home runs

He is 10th in home runs at 31 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED hitter in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.

New on this page tonight.

The case in 30 seconds

  • 31 10th in home runs at 31 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • on the 2026 rookie leaderboard (31 HR) snapshot rookie_leaders board

The honest caveat

A top-ten finish is a position on a board, not a verdict on a player. The men just below him on it are not meaningfully worse, and one good week moves several places.

What to watch next

Next up: vs Baltimore Orioles.

Every claim above, with its source (2)
  1. 10th in home runs at 31 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. on the 2026 rookie leaderboard (31 HR) snapshot rookie_leaders board

Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Kazuma Okamoto is doing this in his first big-league season.

The evidence

What to watch next

vs Baltimore Orioles Rogers Centre · 3:07 p.m. ET Facing Kyle Bradish

Kazuma Okamoto faces a right-hander in Kyle Bradish. He is hitting .229 with 22 home runs in 385 at-bats against right-handers this season.

Situational splits

SplitABAVGHRRBIOPS
vs RHP 385 .229 2266 .736
vs LHP 136 .250 918 .848
Home 241 .237 1339 .757
Away 280 .232 1845 .773
Day 226 .226 1137 .729
Night 295 .241 2047 .793

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

142G
521AB
122H
.234AVG
31HR
84RBI
1SB
242B
03B
.766OPS

Chasing .400

.234Current AVG
145Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
127-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
2.163Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (106-for-49)

Status: IMPOSSIBLE

Milestone tracker

ChaseTargetCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
.350 AVG .350 .234 .234 1.592 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.380 AVG .380 .234 .234 1.939 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.400 AVG .400 .234 .234 2.163 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.406 AVG .406 .234 .234 2.245 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
.466 AVG .466 .234 .234 2.939 ROS IMPOSSIBLE
50 HR 50 31 34 19 in 14 g · 1 per 2.6 AB EXTREME
60 HR 60 31 34 29 in 14 g · 1 per 1.7 AB EXTREME
62 HR 62 31 34 31 in 14 g · 1 per 1.6 AB EXTREME
70 HR 70 31 34 39 in 14 g · 1 per 1.3 AB EXTREME
73 HR 73 31 34 42 in 14 g · 1 per 1.2 AB EXTREME
200 Hits 200 122 134 78 in 14 g EXTREME
225 Hits 225 122 134 103 in 14 g EXTREME
250 Hits 250 122 134 128 in 14 g EXTREME
262 Hits 262 122 134 140 in 14 g EXTREME
50 SB 50 1 1 49 in 14 g EXTREME
80 SB 80 1 1 79 in 14 g EXTREME
100 SB 100 1 1 99 in 14 g EXTREME
130 SB 130 1 1 129 in 14 g EXTREME
50 2B 50 24 26 26 in 14 g EXTREME
60 2B 60 24 26 36 in 14 g EXTREME
67 2B 67 24 26 43 in 14 g EXTREME
20 3B 20 0 0 20 in 14 g EXTREME
25 3B 25 0 0 25 in 14 g EXTREME
36 3B 36 0 0 36 in 14 g EXTREME
125 RBI 125 84 92 41 in 14 g EXTREME
150 RBI 150 84 92 66 in 14 g EXTREME
175 RBI 175 84 92 91 in 14 g EXTREME
191 RBI 191 84 92 107 in 14 g EXTREME

How likely is the finish?

0%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs

His rate of 53.450 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 48.920 after regressing toward the league's 30.170 — a leaderboard selects for players who have outperformed, so an unregressed rate projected forward overstates every one of them. That puts the expected finish at 33.2, against a straight team-game pace of 34. Exact beta-binomial over 55 remaining plate appearances, averaged across playing-time scenarios. Calibrated against Retrosheet finishes: within 7 points of observed frequency in every band, and within 2 in three of five. It is a model, not a measurement.

Home run pace vs the benchmark seasons

36730162 gJudge 62Bonds 7331
Cumulative home runs by team game against straight 62 (Judge 2022) and 73 (Bonds 2001) paces. The homepage checkpoint card uses the exact game-by-game Retrosheet curves; these reference lines are straight-line paces.
0.4%of comparable chases reached 40 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 50 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 60 HR

Empirical: seasons within ±2 HR of his total at the same team-game checkpoint (n=677); median finish 32. Retrosheet.

Recent highlights

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Historical twinAnthony Santander · 2022

87% season-shape match

HR checkpoint-33 vs Barry Bonds

Through 148 team games; 64 in 2001

Chase history

.226.263.30003-3109-11
Batting average, day by day
34506503-3109-11
Projected HR, day by day