Blue Jays' Kazuma Okamoto presents unexpected concern amid early .200 struggles

Blue Jays' Kazuma Okamoto presents unexpected concern amid early .200 struggles originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

For better or worse, Kazuma Okamoto is going to spend this season being compared to Munetaka Murakami.

The Blue Jays signed Okamoto, while the White Sox signed Murakami -- both high-profile imports from Japan's NPB.

And there was supposed to be a difference.

Okamoto was viewed as the safe signing, the more steady hitter with better contact skills and still some power.

Murakami was viewed as risky due to his swing-and-miss tendencies despite his immense pop.

That's what has made Okamoto's rough start (.200 average, .586 OPS) particularly concerning: He's displaying issues he wasn't necessarily expected to have.

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Okamoto ranks in the 7th-percentile in MLB in whiff percentage. He swings and misses 36.5% of the time.

That suggests a hitter who potentially can't quite handle MLB pitching to the level that would've been hoped.

He's done a lot of things pretty well that at least provide hope. He's above average in exit velocity, hard-hit rate, bat speed and chase percentage.

But Okamoto wasn't supposed to whiff this much. And if he keeps doing it, the four-year, $60 million contract might age poorly.

Okamoto already isn't a good defender or baserunner. He has to hit.

Toronto will have to hope he makes the proper adjustments to MLB pitching. If not, they'll have a tough time trusting him as an everyday player.