Kazuma Okamoto, the leading hitter of the Yomiuri Giants, is likely to be the home run king this season. The Major League is paying attention, but it is not expected to be easy for the time being.온라인카지노
Okamoto, Yomiuri’s fourth hitter and a key hitter for the Japanese national team in the WBC (World Baseball Classic) last March, is leading the Central League in home runs this season. As of the 17th, 41 home runs. He is an overwhelming first place, beating Yakult Swallows’ fourth hitter Munetaka Murakami (30 home runs), who won the home run title last year. If this continues, he is likely to win the title of home run king this year. Considering that foreign hitters, who are tied for first in home runs in the Pacific League, are recording 24 home runs, Okamoto’s pace is the fastest in the entire league.
Okamoto is also ranked 4th in the league in batting average with .2094 and 2nd in RBI with 93 runs batted in. He is also having his best year, becoming the 9th player in league history to reach the 30 home run mark for the 6th straight season and tying his career high this season.
Of course, major league clubs are also watching his performance. Major League scouts checked the performance of NPB’s key players this season, and Okamoto’s evaluation in the WBC jumped even further. Recently, there was speculation that he could advance to the major leagues through the posting system, but it appears that this will not be easy. This is because permission from the club is required.
On the 18th (Korean time), John Moroshi, a major league reporter for ‘MLB Network’ in the United States, posted on his SNS, “The Yomiuri Giants will not post Okamoto this winter. Okamoto must end the 2026 season to qualify as a free agent. “Unless he posts, he won’t be able to advance to the major leagues,” he said.
The Yomiuri club is famous for not easily allowing its players to advance to the major leagues. Among Yomiuri players, Shun Yamaguchi is the only player allowed to post after the end of the 2019 season. Yamaguchi signed with the Toronto Blue Jays after the 2019 season, then went to the San Francisco Giants before returning to Yomiuri during the 2021 season.
In particular, the probability that Yomiuri will approve the posting of Okamoto, the current team’s key hitter and the best slugger in the league, is close to ‘0’. Yomiuri is still in 4th place in the league this season and is suffering humiliation by losing a game that will determine the championship to rival Hanshin Tigers. If Okamoto is transferred in a situation where the team’s performance has not been satisfactory for several years, it is inevitable that the team will face even more difficulties.