Toronto Blue Jays slugger Okamoto is obsessed with quesadillas

Kazuma Okamoto has been on fire for the Toronto Blue Jays, and it may be due to a peculiar, but tasty pre-game ritual. 

The Japanese slugger has been hitting every baseball in sight over the past few games. That became evident with a pair of fantastic outings against the Minnesota Twins this past weekend, where he smashed three home runs and drove in five RBIs in a pair of games on Friday and Saturday. 

We all knew that Okamoto could smash the baseball from his time playing in Japan, but it appears that he is getting some help from a unique pre-game ritual. He actually revealed his secret after hitting two home runs in that Friday game. 

Okamoto nearly hit a third home run in that game, but it fell just short. After the game, he told the media that the reason he didn't get that third ball over the fence was that he skipped out on his pre-game quesadilla. 

"I didn't have my pre-game quesadilla today," Okamoto told reporters, per Sportsnet's Shi Davidi. "I think if I had had that, it would have been a third home run." 

Kazuma Okamoto nearly hit a third homer tonight, sending this ball 381 feet to the wall in the ninth.

"I didn't have my pre-game quesadilla today," he said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. "I think if I would have had that, it would have been a home run." pic.twitter.com/zpN5IhsQxv

— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) May 2, 2026

Luckily for Blue Jays fans, it appeared that he fixed that for the very next game, as he smashed his longest home run of the season, a 453-feet laser, on Saturday. There is something to be said about a Japanese player on a Canadian team playing in a predominantly American league getting a boost from a Mexican delicacy. 

Even Blue Jays manager John Schneider is on the quesadilla train, according to MLB.com's Keegan Matheson. 

"Oak had his quesadilla," John Schneider said walking out of the #BlueJays' clubhouse. #Kazadilla

— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) May 2, 2026

Okamoto's taste for quesadillas has developed over the course of his first season in North America. Blue Jays reporter Arden Zwelling revealed a few weeks ago that the 29-year-old third baseman has been expanding his tastes this season. 

"He told us that he really likes sandwiches and quesadillas," Zwelling said. "He said that as if they were some sort of unusual delicacies that he's never encountered before. That's how foreign this all is for him." 

Kazuma Okamoto, big sandwich and quesadilla guy 🥪🤣@thehazelmae and @ArdenZwelling break down Okamoto’s adjustment to the MLB lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/Boez8ccOTK

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 16, 2026

The hope is that Okamoto is finally finding his way around the Major Leagues. He struggled out of the gate with just 24 hits through his first 110 at-bats with the Blue Jays. 

Some of those struggles were expected with the shift from Japan's NPB to the North American Major Leagues. However, it seems like the tide is finally starting to shift for Okamoto, and that is good news for a Toronto squad looking to fight off a slow, injury-riddled start to the 2026 campaign. 

For now, we will have to keep an eye on quesadilla sales at the Rogers Centre moving forward.