『僕らは彼に夢中だよ』岡本和真の活躍にブルージェイズファン絶賛！「期待以上」「完全にチームの救い」と愛されまくり【海外の反応】

僕らは彼に夢中だよ。

We adore him.

足が速い

He is fast

大ファンだよ！彼がいなかったら今の順位にはいられなかった。
期待以上の活躍をしてくれてる。
これからも成長し続けるのが楽しみだな！
トロントでの生活を楽しんでくれてたら嬉しいね。僕らは彼が来てくれて最高だから

We love him! We wouldn’t be where we are standings wise without him.
Surpassed my expectations.
Looking forward to seeing him continue to grow!
I hope he’s loving it here in Toronto cuz we’ve been loving having him.

最近は少し落ち着いてきたけど、初夏の暗黒期にチームを支えてくれたのは彼だけだったよ

He's certainly cooled down a touch but he was the only one there for us in our dogshittest days of late spring early summer

今一番大好きなブルージェイズの選手だ。

My favourite Blue Jay right now.

選球眼がたまに怪しくなる時もあるし、たまにエラーもするけど、全体としては素晴らしい選手だと思う。勝負強さはチーム随一だし、パワーもあるし、今年は守備でも素晴らしいプレーを見せてくれた。
ブルージェイズが今年プレーオフを狙える位置にいる最大の理由の一つだよ。

His plate discipline can be a little off at times and he’ll make an error when once in a while but overall I think he’s a great player. He’s one of the more clutch hitters on the Jays, has good power, and also has made some great plays on defense this year too.
One of the biggest reasons the Jays are even sniffing the postseason this year.

みんな彼が大好きだよ！チームの調子が悪い時、いつも本塁打を打って盛り上げてくれるのは岡本なんだ！トロントにもたくさんファンがいるよ。ブルージェイズの一員と言えるのが誇らしい！

We love him! When we aren't playing as well, it is often Okamoto who will hit a home run and make us very excited! He has many fans in Toronto. We are proud to call him a Blue Jay!

カナダ全土にファンがいるぞ！BCに住む妻と俺も大ファンなんだ！
打席でのパワーと、サードからの爆風のような強肩が見事に噛み合ってる。守備でビッグプレーを何度も見せてくれた！チームの雰囲気にもうまく馴染んでるし、謙虚な性格も素晴らしいよ。

※BC：ブリティッシュコロンビア州（カナダの州）

He has many fans across Canada! My wife and I absolutely adore him in BC!
We find his power at the plate to be matched by his cannon of an arm at 3rd base. He’s made some huge plays for us defensively! We’re also impressed with how he’s fit in with the team personality-wise, and appreciate his humble nature.

パワフルだし守備も堅実だけど、三振はもう少し減らしてほしいな

He can mash and has solid D but needs to work on the strikeouts

かなり期待してたけど、それを遥かに超えていってくれたよ！
ユニフォーム買いたくなってきたな

I had high hopes for him, and I'd say he smashed past them!
I want a Jersey tbh

日本での評価ってどんな感じなの？

How is he viewed in Japan

ストイックで謙虚、それでいてあの打撃とパワー。愛さない理由がないだろ？

Stoic and humble with great hitting and power. What's there not to love?

打撃面：パワーは文句なし。NPB時代みたいな器用さもあればなお良いけど、MLBでも十分通用する打者タイプだ。
アプローチ：正直そこまで好きじゃない。簡単に0-2に追い込まれる印象がある。「ストライクゾーンに投げてファールを打たせ、高めのストレートか変化球で空振りさせる」という相手投手の対策に苦しんでいて、見ていてもどかしい時がある。
守備面：可もなく不可もなく。ルーティンプレーはこなすし、派手なミスもあれば素晴らしいアウトも取る。ごく平均的で頼れるサードって感じだ。
文化への馴染み方：ここには本当に感銘を受けてる。日本人選手は日本人同士で固まるか（LAみたいに）、MLB文化に適応するのに苦しむケースが多い（今井みたいに）。でも岡本は、吉田と同じように、チームにしっかり自分の居場所を見つけているように感じる。
すでに極めて重要な選手だよ。長打力不足に悩む打線で最高の4番打者だ。選球眼や変化球の対応を磨き、守備の確実性を高めて、さらに成長してくれることを期待してる。今年の苦しいチーム状況の中で、若い主将の存在感には本当に感心させられるよ。

From a batting perspective - the power is great, a more well-rounded profile like he had in the NPB would be nice but he certainly has a batting archetype that can be effective in the MLB.
His plate approach I don't absolutely love. I feel like he gets down into 0-2 counts very frequently, and the current strategy pitchers have of "throw in the zone to get him to foul off to 0-2, then fastball high or any breaking ball anywhere for a whiff" is quite effective and frustrating to watch.
Defense - I am not particularly upset or impressed. He makes most of the routine plays, has had some high-profile errors, and has made a couple of impressive outs, sort of feels like he is a basically normal, servicible 3rd baseman.
One thing I have been very impressed by is his fit into the team culture. I feel like most Japanese MLB players either clearly just hang out with their countrymen (like LA) or struggle greatly to adapt to the MLB culture (like Imai). With Okamoto, like Yoshida, I get more of a sense they have some sense of belonging in the team even if they are not as close with their teammates as other players are.
I think he is already a quite important player, a perfect clean-up bat in a lineup seriously struggling with power. I hope he can build on the success this year with better contact skills, a better ability to read breaking balls to get more favourable counts and draw more walks, and slightly more reliable defense (perhaps also with some more versatility, the ability to play the corner outfield would help the team tremendously). So I am quite impressed by the Young General, especially coming into a team that has seen such struggles with performance this year.

今日のダブルエラーの判定はさすがに可哀想だったと思うな。
僕は彼の大ファンだよ！多くのファンが彼がMLBに適応し続けて、文字通り中心選手になってくれることを期待してるはず。今日はアレだったけど守備も堅実だし、チーム最多本塁打を打ってる打者を愛さないわけがない。
ちなみにウィニペグ在住のファンだけど、カナダ人はみんなブルージェイズファンだからね。

I thought it was highly unfair he got charged for a double error today.
I love the guy! I think most fans are hoping/expecting Okamoto to continue acclimate to MLB and become, as you say, a genuinely important player. Today notwithstanding, solid defender. He's got the most home runs on the team, hard not to love that.
Oh, technically a fan in Winnipeg. But all Canadians are Jays fans.

足が速くて男らしい。マジで男前。トロントのファンはみんな彼に夢中さ

he is fast and he is manly. very manly. And we love him here

もう完全に恋に落ちてるわ

I’m in love with him

年間を通して一番安定してた選手だよ。彼がいなかったらもっと酷い成績になってた。

The most consistent player we had all year, we'd of been way worse without him.

2023年に東京ドームで彼が本塁打を打つのを見たよ！そしたら今年、こっちのスタジアムの最上階までぶち込むのを目撃した。最高だったな！
完全に期待以上。三振を減らせばオールスター級になれるし、好不調の波も減ると思う。守備も前評判より良いけど、まだ改善の余地はあるね。チームが喉から手が出るほど欲しかった大砲だよ。

I saw him hit a home run in Tokyo in 2023! Then I saw him hit one to the uppermost reaches of the stadium here this year. Pretty cool!
Overall exceeded expectations, if he cuts down on his strikeouts he could be an all star, and I think that will help him produce more consistently rather than being a little streaky. Defense is better than advertised but can also be improved a little. He is much needed power to the team.

岡本がいなかったら今シーズンのチームはク○箱行きだったね。間違いなくチーム最高の選手の一人だし、ファンからも愛されてる！ブルージェイズ史上最高のルーキーの一人じゃないかな。
とにかくパワーが破格。守備も悪くないけどたまにエラーするからもう少し練習が必要かな。でもサードへのコンバートによく適応したと思うよ。
あと三振が多いのは日本人打者がメジャーの球速に慣れる過程でよくあることだね。あと固め打ちの傾向があって、1ヶ月大爆発したあと少し冷え込んで、また数週間後に爆発するのを繰り返してる。
性格面でもファンやチームメイトから愛されてるよ。基本的には静かだけどお茶目な一面もある。マイルズ・ストローやゲレーロJr.と仲が良いみたいで、あいつらも陽気だから最高の組み合わせだよ。
あとケサディーヤが大好物で、球場で「カズディーヤ」が販売されるようになったレベルw

If we didn’t have him, our season would be in the garbage. Definitely one of the best players on the team, we love him here! One of the best rookies in Blue Jays history, maybe even the best.
Incredible, incredible power. Defence is quite good but could use some work as he does make some errors every now and then, but overall I’d say he adapted to the switch to 3B very well.
He also strikes out a lot, but that seems to be common with Japanese hitters as they adapt to MLB pitching. He’s also very “streaky”, ie. he’ll be really, really good for a month and then he’ll be bad for a little while, but then he’ll be good again a few weeks later for a little while and the cycle repeats.
Personality-wise, he’s loved here by the fans and the team. Very solemn but has a little fun side in him. His best friends on the team, as far as we can tell, seem to be Myles Straw and Vladimir Guerrero Jr, who are both very fun people as well.
He also loves his quesadillas 😋😂 to the point where the team started selling “Kaz-adillas” at the ballpark!

もうすでに絶対的な主力だよ！今年ダントツの主砲だ。守備は予想通りか、気持ちそれ以上って感じ。でも30本以上打つ打者なら、サードで平均レベルの守備ができれば文句なしだろ。
すでにMLBで通用する素晴らしい選手。三振さえ減らせば、この契約期間中に本物のスーパースターになれるよ。

He's already a genuinely important player! By far our best power hitter this year. I'd say his defense is about what was expected, maybe a tiny bit better...but if you're hitting 30+ HR, average D at 3B is perfectly fine.
He's already a really good MLB player. Get the strikeouts down and he'll be a legitimate star over the course of this contract.

みんな岡本が大好きだよ！ビッグ・オークとかオカモティブって愛称で呼んでる。
今年のブルージェイズは全体としてイマイチだけど、岡本和真の活躍は間違いなく今シーズンの最大の救いだ。重要人物になれるか心配する必要なんてない、もうすでに中心人物だよ！

We love Okamoto, or as we like to call him Big Oak, or the Okamotive.
The Blue Jays as a whole have not been great this year but Kazuma Okamoto has easily been one of the high points of the year. And dont worry about him becoming an important player, he already is one!

彼の娘さんがブルージェイズを選んでくれたことに感謝したいね。

We would like to thank his daughter for choosing the Blue Jays.

トロントで本当に大人気なんだよ❤️ ビッグ・オーク！

He’s very, very well liked here in Toronto ❤️ Big Oak!

トピ主の意見も聞きたいな。日本で彼はどう思われてたの？

I'd love to hear your side, u/Soshi246la -- how was he seen in Japan?

期待をはるかに超えてくれた、みんな彼に夢中だよ。熱心なファンは、今年足りなかった部分（三振の多さや打率）も改善してくれると信じてる。適応期なんだから苦戦する部分があるのは当然さ。
来年、ブルージェイズが彼の友人である鈴木を獲得してくれたら最高なんだけどな！

he’s exceeded all expectations, we love him. those who follow closely have confidence he’ll round out the areas of his game lacking this year (too many strikeouts, low average). it makes sense he might struggle in some ways, because there is an adjustment.
I hope the Blue Jays sign his friend Suzuki next year!

ケサディーヤのくだりでもうノックアウトされたよ！1年目にして完全にファンのアイドルだし、ホットコーナー（サード）に慣れてくればもっと凄くなるはずだ。

He had us at Quesadillas! He is a fan favourite in his first year and I am sure he will only get better as he gets more comfortable in the MLB hot corner.

去年の4月にブルージェイズの試合を見に行って、彼の活躍が見たくてシャツを買ったんだ。全く後悔してないよ。素晴らしい補強だし、チームの希望の光だ。

I went to see a couple of Blue Jays games last April and bought his shirt because I was so excited to see him play. I don't regret it at all. He's been a wonderful addition and a bright spot in the team.

今シーズン、500レベル（最上階席）まで飛ばす本塁打を打ったんだぞ。それだけで俺の中では最高だわ。岡本最高。

He hit a home run into the 500-level this season. That’s pretty good in my books. Love Okamoto.

岡本は本当に素晴らしい。
彼自身もトロントでの生活をすごく楽しんでるし、ブルージェイズファンも彼を愛してるよ。

Okamoto is truly excellent.
He really enjoys his time here in Toronto and Blue Jays love him back.