White Sox dream of Munetaka Murakami extension is alive and well after latest quote

If you’ve been living under a rock or perhaps on a seven-week long camping trip with no cell service, you may not be familiar with the growing legend of Munetaka Murakami. The White Sox took advantage of a slower-than-expected market for the Japanese slugger and brought him to Chicago on a two-year, $34 million contract to play first base. Murakami’s start has been everything the White Sox hoped for and more through the first month and a half of the season, and it has White Sox fans clamoring for the team to keep him in Chicago long-term. 

Through his first 41 big league games, Murakami has 15 home runs and a .901 OPS. Despite striking out in 35% of his plate appearances, Murakami’s 17.5% walk rate is among the best in baseball, and he leads the league with a 63.9% hard-hit percentage. Long story short, Murakami strikes out a bunch, but when he hits the ball, he hits rockets. His .362 on-base percentage will play regardless of strikeouts. Murakami’s 1.2 fWAR only trails Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas among White Sox position players, and it’s tied for third among American League first-basemen. MLB.com's first Rookie of the Year Poll had Murakami as the current leader for the AL.

The White Sox have been surprisingly competitive so far in 2026 and fans have come out in droves to watch Murakami play in Chicago. He’s the kind of player that the White Sox should build around and he’s just 26 years-old. While White Sox general manager Chris Getz threw cold water on the rumors of ongoing extension talks a couple weeks ago, others have heard differently. 

The biggest two questions when it comes to an extension for Murakami are: 1) Is he interested in signing a long-term deal with the White Sox? 2) If so, how much is it going to cost? A recent interview with Murakami may have answered the first of the questions. 

“If they do offer something and feel that they would want me still, I would love to have that talk”, Murakami said when asked if he’s open to a long-term deal with the White Sox. 

Murakami's extension would be costly but worth it for the White Sox

It’s difficult to tell what a player like Murakami might command for a long-term deal. He’s not without his flaws, and he may run into some rough patches when big league pitchers begin to figure him out. First-baseman Pete Alonso, who compares to Murakami in the power department and positionally, landed $155 over five years from the Orioles, but Alonso is several years older and hits right-handed. Perhaps Murakami’s closest player comparison is Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber, who landed $150 million this offseason. Like Alonso, Schwarber is older than Murakami and is limited to DH, so it’s reasonable to expect that Murakami would command more than Alonso and Schwarber got. I’d guess it would be closer to $200 million over five or six years to get a deal done. 

Not only have the White Sox never dished out a $200 million contract, they’ve never even given out half that amount. Are they willing to make Murakami the first player in franchise history to land a nine-figure deal? Only time will tell. But the team is gearing up to begin their competitive window and Murakami helps the team in more ways than one. If you ask me, he’s the perfect candidate. 

I can’t predict the future, and I can’t predict whether Murakami and the White Sox will reach a long term deal before he hits free agency, but I can say with confidence that Murakami wants to be in Chicago, and the fans share that opinion. The ball is now in the White Sox court.

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