According to World Baseball Classic Insider Shawn Spradling, new Toronto Blue Jays infielder Kazuma Okamoto is confirmed to play for Team Japan at the upcoming WBC, which begins on March 4.

We had presumed that Okamoto was going to represent his home nation, as he did in 2023, but it is now confirmed. Japan won the 2023 event and enters this tournament as one of the favorites along with the United States and Dominican Republic. Japan beat the U.S. in the gold medal game in 2023.

Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki, Yusei Kikuchi, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tomoyuki Sugano and Munetaka Murakami will join Okamoto on Samurai Japan. Yuki Matsui of the San Diego Padres is also on the roster.

Spradling has Okamoto playing third base. He can also play first base and the outfield and could appear in all three spots for the Blue Jays.

Okamoto was signed earlier this offseason to a four-year, $60 million deal. One of the best offensive players in Japan for several years, he has six seasons of 30 home runs or more under his belt. That comes even as Japan goes through a "dead ball" phase. 

After missing out on Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette, there's a good chance that Okamoto plays a lot of third base for the Jays, with Ernie Clement at second base and Addison Barger in right field.

Of course, Clement and Barger can both play third as well, also allowing manager John Schneider to use the versatility on his roster.

As it stands right now, first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will play for the Dominican Republic and Clement will play for Team USA. Catcher Alejandro Kirk will do the catching for Mexico. Team Venezuela has not announced its full roster yet but there's certainly a chance that both Andres Gimenez and Anthony Santander could play for that group, which is also one of the stronger teams in the field.

Venezuela will have announcements about its team in a press conference on Tuesday.

--The Blue Jays signed former Red Sox pitcher Connor Seabold to a minor league deal. He'll get an invite to spring training.

--Baseball America came out with a list of three Jays prospects that could be 'breakout candidates' for 2026. You can see that group here.

--MLB Pipeline released its Top 100 prospects on Friday night and the Jays were given three players inside the Top 100. 

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