Kazuma Okamoto (27), the fourth batter of the Yomiuri Giants, renewed his annual contract at 420 million yen (375 million U.S. dollars). This year, he saw a 64 percent increase from 270 million yen (2.41 billion won). He is expected to rank third to fourth in annual salary within his team.
Last year, infielder Hayato Sakamoto (35) ranked first and second with 600 million yen (about 5.36 billion won) and Tomoyuki Sugano (35) with 500 million yen (about 4.46 billion won). Maru Yoshiro (34) followed with 450 million yen, Nakata Sho (34) 300 million yen and Okamoto (270 million yen). 온라인경마
Sakamoto, who is on a multi-year contract, will receive an annual salary of 600 million yen through next year. Sugano signed a contract of 400 million yen, a reduction of 100 million yen. Maru, whose five-year contract as an FA has ended, is in negotiations to renew his contract. Maru, a member of the Hiroshima Carp, moved to the Yomiuri Giants in the winter of 2018. He signed a five-year contract worth 450 million yen, totaling 2.25 billion yen.
Nakata was traded free of charge to the Yomiuri Giants from the Nippon-Ham Fighters in August 2021. Violence within the team became an issue. Nakata, who played for the Yomiuri Giants for two and a half years, recently moved to a new team. He signed a two-year, 600 million-yen free agent contract with the Chunichi Dragons. It is the highest annual salary in the Chunichi Dragons.
This season, Okamoto stood out as the best in name and reality. He is the only player in both leagues who hit 40 home runs. He has 41 home runs in 140 games and a career-high. He became the third home run king by beating Munetaka Murakami (23), the “monster hitter” who hit 31 home runs.
He has recorded more than 30 home runs for six consecutive years from 2018 to this year. He has recorded 30 home runs for the third time in six consecutive years following “legendary home run king” Sadaharu Oh (President of Softbank) and Hideki Matsui. In addition, 41 home runs are the most for right-handed hitters in the Yomiuri Giants.
Okamoto hit 31 in 2020 and 39 in 2021 and topped the Central League home run list for the second consecutive year. In 2021, he won the title jointly with Murakami.
He hit 30 balls last year, overwhelmingly beating Murakami, who set the record of 56 Japanese players. Even with 30 home runs and 82 RBIs, his annual salary was cut from 300 million yen to 30 million yen. He showed strong performance this year, and immediately jumped to the 400 million yen level.
He is the leader of the Yomiuri Giants in name and reality. Okamoto took the helm last fall after Sakamoto. He has clearly played the role of cleanup hitter with a batting average of 278 with 140 hits and 93 RBIs.
Prior to this season, he played hard for the Japanese national team of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). He played five to six times as a starting first baseman, contributing to the victory.
His personal performance was good, but his team only ranked fourth to sixth among the six teams in the B-Class series for the second consecutive year. Tatsunori Hara left the team with one year left until the contract period. Senior coach Shinnosuke Abe (44) took over as coach.
Okamoto said, “I have a lot of work to do. I will do my best to win next year.”