Japanese slugger Murakami Munetaka (26·Chicago White Sox) is surprising Major League Baseball with a performance that laughs at being underrated. Merrill Kelly (37·Arizona Diamondbacks), the protagonist of the KBO reverse-export legend, also acknowledged it.
Murakami started as the No. 2 hitter and first baseman in the home game against the Seattle Mariners in the 2026 Major League season at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, on the 9th (Korean time), and unleashed his 15th home run of the season. He is tied for first in Major League Baseball with Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) in that category.
From his first plate appearance in the first inning, he drove Emerson Hancock's second pitch, a sinker that came down the middle at 95.4 mph (153.5 km/h), and sent it over the left-field wall. It was a solo shot that traveled 380 feet (115.8 m) at 106.2 mph (170.9 km/h) with a 32-degree launch angle. He showed power to drive a high-velocity pitch out of the park.
Through that day Murakami's stats were: 38 games, batting average .237 (135 at-bats, 32 hits), 15 home runs, 29 RBIs, on-base percentage .370, slugging .578, OPS .947. Murakami, who leads the American League (AL) in home runs and RBIs, also leads in strikeouts (57), but with 29 walks his on-base percentage is 0.133 higher than his batting average. Above all, at a 64-home-run pace, he has the momentum to challenge Shohei Ohtani's (LA Dodgers) 55 homers last year for the single-season Asian major league record.
Murakami, who hit 246 home runs over eight seasons from 2018 to 2025 with the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball, set the Japanese single-season record with 56 home runs in 2022. However, his performance declined slightly afterward, and when he posted for MLB last winter he received unexpectedly low evaluations. There were concerns he was a empty threat with low contact and many strikeouts, and his infield defense was also a shaky point.
In the end he settled for a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox, but when the lid was opened there was nothing but a huge jackpot. After starting the season with home runs in three consecutive games, he hit home runs in five straight games in mid-April. A month after the opener, he added three more homers in May, showing that this is not a temporary hot streak.
On the 9th, ESPN highlighted Murakami's performance and relayed other teams' reactions. An AL team official said, "Everyone made a big mistake. Batters who miss John's pitches scare people. With the level of opposing pitchers rising, it was harder to predict what would happen. This is one of the blind spots of hitting prediction models, and every team's confidence was shaken." An executive of a National League (NL) team acknowledged the misjudgment, saying, "We placed too much emphasis on strikeout numbers. We did not fully trust his ability to get on base." Murakami had a decent plate discipline record in Japan with three seasons of 100 walks, but Major League teams overlooked that.
The White Sox, on the other hand, saw it differently. They viewed Murakami's inadequate ability to handle high-velocity fastballs not as a lack of skill but as a lack of opportunity. Chris Getz, director general of the White Sox, said, "I knew there were concerns about velocity. Given the fastballs in Major League Baseball, such weaknesses become apparent quickly. But Murakami did not see a lot of those very fast pitches in Japan. That does not mean he cannot hit those pitches."
This season Murakami has hit three home runs off pitches over 95 mph (152.9 km/h). He strikes out often, but his out-of-zone swing rate is 22.0%, placing him in the top 12%. He does not chase bait pitches easily and his walk rate is 17.5%, ranking in the top 4% of the league. Because he uses his eyes well at the plate, he also defends the low zone. His hard-hit rate on pitches over 95 mph is the highest in Major League Baseball (63.6%), and when he connects it is a guaranteed hard hit.
Kelly, a pitcher from the KBO League who gave up a home run to Murakami on the 22nd of last month, said, "I think there will be many teams that regret not making more effort to sign him. There seemed to be concerns that Murakami's skills would not translate against big-league pitchers, but in my view, if he achieved a triple crown in the world's second-highest league, he can certainly succeed." Murakami achieved the triple crown in 2022 by leading the Central League in batting average (.318), home runs (56) and RBIs (134).
Another Arizona pitcher who gave up a home run to Murakami, Ryan Thompson, said, "The way Murakami hits here is different from how he did in Japan. His weaknesses are no longer weaknesses. The reason other teams didn't sign him was because of his weaknesses when he was in Japan, but now he has changed his approach," and he felt Murakami has stepped up since coming to Major League Baseball.
After the Seattle game on the 9th, Murakami said, "At my first press conference there were many critical questions about whether I could hit faster pitches. Now the results are starting to come, and the questions are coming out differently. I want people to ask how I am doing," and added, "During the season there will always be ups and downs. Whatever the results, preparing with the same routine every day and approaching the game that way is most important."
Getz said, "I hope Murakami continues to do what he has done so far. He has been a really big asset to our team. The league is trying to figure him out, but he continues to show impressive performances. Given his competitiveness, diligence and intelligence, it is hard to see him not improving."
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