Former home run king T. Okada, who batted in the low .200s with the second team, has played in only two games this season.

The former homerun king is struggling.

He is T. Okada (35), the former Orix mainstay. He appeared in only two games for the first team this season (as of May 21), and was registered with the first team on May 13, but was demoted to the second team again four days later due to illness caused by a fever.

He has been in a slump with a batting average in the low .200s and only one home run in his last season. Last season, he was also in a slump with a .149 batting average and one home run in the first team. He has been plagued by injuries in recent years, including Achilles tendon pain, and this is probably the reason why he has not been able to improve his condition as much as he would like. It is sad to think that he exploded in 2010 with a .284 batting average and 33 home runs, winning the title of home run king.

Violation of the Labor Standards Act.”

T-Okada is a left-handed long-range gunner. In recent years, however, left-handed hitters of a similar type, such as Masanao Yoshida and Tomoya Mori, have increased their presence with the Orix, and T-Okada has been somewhat overshadowed.

He is so enthusiastic about training that he himself calls it a violation of the Labor Standards Law. In camp, he swings the bat all day, morning and night. If he is not satisfied with the results, he will complain to the manager and coaches, and he actively gives advice to the younger players. The players trust him. He also has a spirit of challenge, as he trained in the Puerto Rico Winter League in the off-season of 2007.

If there is a downside, it is his obsession with home runs. He has often changed his hitting form, such as to a one-legged batting style and no step, in search of greater distance. Sometimes he weighs more than 100 kg, and sometimes he weighs less than 90 kg. These extreme changes are probably one of the reasons for the fluctuation in his results.

T. Okada used to be the Orix’s unshakable No. 4 hitter, but his recent slump has often left him in the bottom half of the batting order. His appearances have been decreasing year by year. Will the man known as “Naniwa no Godzilla” end up like this?

But he is still an indispensable member of the team. You can see this when you watch a game at Kyocera Dome in Osaka, the home of the Orix, and the Orix fans cheer loudly when T. Okada’s name is called. He is a player who should be called “Mr. Orix.

Manager Satoshi Nakajima also has high expectations for him. He says, “Just by having T-Okada on the field, the atmosphere in the stadium changes completely. Even if the team is losing ground, T-Okada can turn the tide in a flash. It is true that it is difficult for him to consistently appear in games and hit home runs as he used to do. However, with the mainstays of the team such as Mori and Yutaro Sugimoto (Raoh Sugimoto) not in perfect shape, there will surely come a time when T-Okada will be needed.

The long-range gunner was named “T-Okada” in anticipation of his Tyrannosaurus-like rampage. For a team aiming for a third consecutive league championship, the veteran’s role is far from over.