The White Sox offseason signing of Japanese star Munetaka Murakami was one of the more interesting deals in baseball. Once projected to land a nine-figure deal, Murakami managed just $34 million over two years in his deal with the White Sox as teams expressed concern about his swing-and-miss tendencies. The first 22 games of Murakami’s big league career have been an exciting watch for White Sox fans, and he’s already shown the ability to adapt and make adjustments to major league pitching. It's early, but it already feels like those concerns were overblown.
Munetaka Murakami is absolutely fascinating.
— Nathaniel Thomas (@xwOBA_enjoyer) April 19, 2026
He's been completely incapable of hitting pitches outside of the strike zone (33.3% O-Contact), but he never, ever chases, so leaving the zone isn't a viable strategy.
You basically have to challenge him, and then he can do this. https://t.co/00fAixsdqU
Murakami began his career with a bang, hitting home runs in each of his first three career games. His pace slowed down a bit as pitchers adjusted. All three of his home runs in the opening series came against a fastball, and pitchers began throwing Murakami a heavy dose of offspeed pitches. Murakami homered in all three games against the Athletics this weekend, with two of the three off breaking pitches, demonstrating his ability to adjust to pitchers at the highest level.
Murakami's strong start is reminiscent of other premiere sluggers
Murakami’s first big league sample has been quite the interesting case. His 41.7% whiff rate is the highest mark in baseball, but he’s demonstrated elite plate discipline, with 20 walks in 22 games. More than 50% of Murakami’s at bats have ended in a strikeout or a walk, and he has no extra base hits outside of his eight home runs. But all of that equates to a .918 OPS and a 153 wRC+, putting him on an all-star pace. His early season trends have been reminiscent of prime Joey Gallo, or even former White Sox slugger Adam Dunn during his best years. He’s not without his flaws, but he’s an exciting young hitter with a power upside unlike anyone the White Sox have had in recent years.Â
Murakami’s excellent plate discipline has given pitchers a tough conundrum. He crushes fastballs in the zone but doesn’t chase much outside the zone. This leaves pitchers with the lone option of attacking the zone with offspeed pitches. But Murakami’s recent power surge against breaking pitches now makes that less of a sound plan than it was before, so pitchers are put in a difficult position. It’ll be interesting to see how pitchers attack Murakami moving forward and how he adjusts to changes.Â
Murakami has certainly shown enough to believe he can be a productive hitter at the big league level, and the White Sox are now going to be tasked with a difficult situation. I’m sure they’d love to keep him around long term, but at the pace he’s currently on, Murakami is going to be one of the premiere sluggers in the league at first base and his price tag will skyrocket. The White Sox have plenty of payroll space but have never given out a $100 million contract, so it’ll take a deal the team has never given out before.Â
Chris Getz has said on multiple occasions that the money will be there when the White Sox are ready to compete, so it’ll be time for him to back up his talk with action. A Murakami contract extension might make the White Sox uncomfortable, but Mune is a player worth stepping out of your comfort zone for.
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