Earlier this week, the Toronto Blue Jays officially came to terms with Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto on a four-year deal worth $60 million. Though he profiles best as a third baseman, the preference for the Jays is to play him in a super-utility role defensively - and utilize his bat to make an already good lineup even better.

Now 29 years old, Okamoto is known for his bat, which has been one of the best in Japan for the last several years. A member of Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic title team, Okamoto has six seasons of 30 homers or more under his belt - even as Japan's NPB goes through a power decline. In addition to being a power threat, he's a .274 lifetime hitter who walks a lot and doesn't strike out much.

For a Blue Jays team that gained popularity in the playoffs because of its ability to hit homers and simply put the ball in play, Okamoto seems like he'll fit right in.

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The big question for Japanese hitters coming over always is about how well they can handle velocity. While the NPB is an great league that has produced great pitchers like Roki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the fact remains that high-end velocity is more of a rarity there. So, it's always unclear how hitters will handle it when subjected to it on a regular basis.

Speaking on this week's 'Baseball Bar-B-Cast," with Yahoo Sports! Jordan Shusterman, Eric Lonenhagen of Fangraphs said that there's reason to believe Okamoto can succeed against that top-end heat.

"In Okamoto's case, you know, one of the first things that you're looking at over the course of the last couple of years is 'how has he performed against premium velocity?' And even in like a three-year sample, there are only 350 pitches or so that he faced at 94 miles an hour and above. That's like a couple of months worth of big-league fastballs. So there's volatility inherent in all of that because the sample size is so small.

But in that sample he performed really well. Like we're talking about, you know, mid to upper 80s contact rate against those fastballs. And so insofar as like you can be confident that this guy is going to hit big league pitching and when you're diving deep and trying to ascertain whether like the specific problem that plagues guys like Yoshitomo Tsutsugo and you know, some of the guys who have come over here, even though they've had success in Japan and not really done anything.

Okamoto checks that box as much as he can..."

Given that Okamoto is likely to play a super-utility role, he may not play every single day. And when he does play, he'll hit lower in the order than the likes of George Springer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk (and Kyle Tucker if the Jays sign him). That means he'll have less pressure to perform, and may also get more to hit, making the transition just a little bit easier.

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