Yoshinobu Yamamoto Spotted With Munetaka Murakami Amid Free Agency! Could Dodgers Sign Murakami?

I’m going to sell you on the idea of Munitaka Murakami. I’m also going to tell you why the Dodgers shouldn’t sign him. It’s coming up next here on buy or sell. So, Munagami, as you see right here, Yoshino Yamamoto out having dinner. Third baseman for team samurai of the WBC. Dude can straight up rake from the left side. Dude is absolutely explosive when it comes to power. Question is, will that power translate? Are the Dodgers going to be interested? How aggressive would the Dodgers be? And uh, of course, you guys know when I do this segment, I’ve got my Dodgers jacket on. Got my Dodgers suit jacket because I’m selling you on these guys. I’m trying to sell you and I’m also trying to talk you out of it. It’s just a fun way of doing pros and cons. I got my my Dodgers used cars salesman jacket on, but let’s let’s start with the pros. Let’s start with the reasons why Let’s start with the reasons why you would consider signing Mitaka Murakami. Let’s start with the positive. Start with the pros. What are you talking about? Of course you want Murakami. Andrew, you said yourself you want to paint Japan Dodger blue. You already have a multi-time MVP position player, a hitter that might play a position one day, might go to the outfield, might play first base, who knows? But right now, Shi Otani is a pitcher and he’s a hitter. Yamamoto is a pitcher. Sasaki a pitcher. Hey, you want to paint the whole country Dodger blue? You want Japan to be all Dodger blue? How about an everyday player that plays in the field? You don’t got one of those yet from Japan. Munitaka Murakami. Can he play third base at the big league level? That’s a major question. Most scouts, most insiders I’ve spoken with, they tell me that he profiles as a first baseman or a designated hitter. He did play one game in the outfield last year. And hey, guess what? You’ve already shown us that if you can hit, if you can rake, you’ll overlook bad defense. And of course, I’m talking about Teay Oscar Hernandez. Would the Dodgers do something crazy and just throw Murkcom in the outfield? Maybe for a year or two, and then when Freddy Freeman’s contract is out couple years from now, you put him at first base. Who knows? couple years from now, does show Otani play in the outfield? Who knows? Could he be a DH then? But the reason why you would want to sign Munitaka Murakami is it’s not easy to find power left-handed bats. It’s not easy. It It’s uh it’s it’s it just does not happen. They don’t grow on trees. And it’s tough. It really is. I mean, it’s uh it’s uh it’s it’s a premium. And Munaka Makami has 80 grade power. And we’re talking about on a scale of 20 to 80, what do you grade a prospect as far as their ability to do whatever it is you’re looking for at a a specific ability? And what do you grade it as? And he has 80 grade power from the left side. The dude has the potential to be a Kyle Schwarber type of power hitter if everything worked out for him. He’s hit 30 or more home runs in five of his seven full seasons in the MPB. He would have done it easily in 2025 if he didn’t have an oblique injury that kept him off the field for two months. When he did come back with the oblique injury, my man was absolutely cooking with gas. He was raking. He was on fire. Hot in the devil’s armpit. Hit 273. Had a 379 on base. Had a 663 slug. Dude was absolutely raking. And also had a 14% walk rate. Had a 390 isolated power. That slugging minus batting average. Great indication of power. 390 is an elite number. Hits the ball hard. Had a 170 mph laser shot to right. Looking at the highlights. This an MVP. He’s a two-time NPB MVP both those years, 2022 and 2023. And he’s been above average essentially his entire career in the MPB. His worst year in Nepon professional baseball was in 2019. In his worst year, he was still 14% better than league average. And that was his rookie season. He was just 19. He spent at least 53% better than league average every single year. And this year, he was 210 weighted runs created. Plus, had a 210 WRC plus this year. That’s 110% above league average. That would be like Aaron Judge territory. He basically was Aaron Judge offensively as far as WRC plus goes in the NPB. The big question, where is he going to play? The Dodgers, will they get involved? Will they talk themselves into it? You got Freddy at first, you got Otani at DH. Now, the one way you could fit him onto the roster would be you would trade Maxy and then try to have Murakami play third base. And in his first year in the show, that is a big ask. That would be rocking the boat. That would be shuffling the deck a lot. Would they do that just because of the upside? Do they think that Murakami could hit more home runs next season than Maxy? That’s tough. But he is tantalizing. It really it is the mystery box of Murakami. So that’s the So the cell job is that another Japanese star 80 power could be a 30 40 home run guy. you get younger, hits the ball hard. Left-handed power is not easy. If somehow someway he found a way to play third, that’s a long-term position of need. Those are the sell jobs. All right, let’s look at the cons. So, the con is that we just talked about it. I mean, he spent most of his career playing third base. Most of 2025, he was at third base. A lot of scouts that you talk to around the industry, a lot of people that have covered baseball in Japan that I’ve spoken to have told me it’s first base and DH. That could change. Who knows? Maybe he impresses you. But there also is the inability to hit for contact. And that’s where he really struggles is just making contact with pitches in the zone. He is extremely boomer bust and the strikeout rate has gone up. At his peak when he hit over 50 home runs, he was winning MVPs, that strikeout rate was at 21%. Now it’s at 28.8% and last year was at 28.6%. So the strikeout rates have gone up. And it is also the financial commitment, too. I mean, he’s not going to come cheap. He would be looking at a deal since he’s so young. It could cost you eight years, $180 million. And on top of that, you would have to play to pay that posting fee. And the posting fee for the Yakultt swallows or he would have to be paid 20% of the deal. So that’ be if let’s say it’s $180 million. You got to pay him 25 million and then 17 half the next 25 15% after that. So you’d be looking at a very hefty a very hefty posting fee to go out there and try to get him. So it’s not like you’re you’re buying a project. This is not a like last season where the comparison to Hey Kim would be the fact that Hey Kim had never played in the show. So there’s kind of an unknown. There’s kind of an unknown. Uh can he play shortstop? I I’m guessing no. I can see that coming. So, it’d be $180 million investment for a guy that’s never played in the show and a guy that you don’t have a natural defensive position for. But I will say the one reason why I wouldn’t just completely rule it out is because the Dodgers understand a wise man once said, “If you want the dub, you’ve got to slug, right?” And last year they won a World Series despite having below average offense, averaging less than four runs per game throughout the postseason. The offense just was not consistently good. And they will overlook bad defense. If if you can hit, you will stick. So that’s the one thing. And then hey, Yamoto, who knows? Does Yamoto want them? Does show want them? Do those guys want them? If they do, I mean, that would definitely, I think, kind of move the needle and tip the scales a little bit. But, uh, yeah, we got Ichro, Hideki, Matsui, Otani. Yeah, it’s not every day that the hitters from Japan are going to come over and have success. And the the contact rate stuff really scares me. It really, really does. And we’ll do some more deep dives. I’m still going to drop my top free agents. I think we’re going to do that tomorrow. But that’s the cell job is he really rags and he does it at a prolific rate to the point where you kind of have to look at some stuff, right? Uh so yeah, that’s where we’re at with

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was recently spotted having dinner with Munetaka Murakami, who recently got posted by NPB and will make a decision on where he will play in MLB soon. The two are good friends but this got people wondering if the Dodgers could be in the mix to sign Murakami, Doug McKain breaks it all down.

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48 comments

  2. Freddie is starting to show slippage. We have to think beyond 2026. I think power is power. He'll have to cut down on the KOs but we're seeing more examples that Japanese players can hit and pitch and hit in the Majors. Last year the "experts" thought Yamamoto wouldn't be as successful at pithing in the majors as he was in NPL.

  3. They wouldn't trade Muncy if they signed Murakami. If Murakami is given the starting 3B job, Muncy would just come off the bench as backup 3B and 1B. Murakami had an oblique injury last year, and Freddie is getting old, so it's reasonable to think that Max would get extensive playing time even if he came off the bench. And he's only making $10M.

    Nothing wrong with having a spectacular bench.

  4. Let me tell you what needs to happen in the next eight years. First thing that needs to be pointed out, Ohtani is an outfielder and a pitcher. The Dodgers need to prepare Ohtani for First base to replace Freeman and acquired a elite DH.

  9. As good as Murakami may be, MLB pitching is somewhat superior to that of the NBP. So IDK if his elite numbers would necessarily translate against the pitching in MLB. Not sure about his defense .

  12. This guy won a Triple Crown so obviously if he tries to he can make contact. I think he just got enthralled with hitting a ton of dongs. If he gets on a team with a good hitting coach they can do a lot to limit his strikeouts.

  18. he hits a ton, strikes out a bunch, but also walks a bunch, he's obviously a stellar hitter which would absolutely solidify the lineup. do eet

  21. Agreed we don't need more sluggers with high strikeout rate and poor defensive skills, we already have the lazy sloppy Teoscar Hernandez, granted he's an infielder but prefer Steve Kwan if anyone. We need better outfielders, He rarely strikes out, puts bat on ball gets on base for the sluggers, has speed, golden glover and only 28.

  25. 村上にはカリスマ性が存在するのだろう。H.R56本・史上最年少での三冠王獲得・5打席連続H.Rの実績。前回WBCでもその片鱗を最後に見せた。

  26. Murakami must possess charisma. His track record includes 56 H.R, becoming the youngest Triple Crown winner in history, and hitting H.R in 5 consecutive at-bats. He showed glimpses of that same brilliance in the last WBC.

  30. When Shohei Ohtani 2way entered Major League Baseball, he faced a barrage of criticism from the media. 😀
    A video compiling the criticism he received at the time is now garnering numerous "likes" in Japan.
    Yoshinobu Yamamoto was also criticized for his high salary.

  34. Yeah, I think the priorities right now (outside of pitching) are to get younger and to get guys who don't strike out so much. This isn't a slam on our current team–I like this group of guys! But I think we saw age play a role in how many guys were out at different times last year, so getting younger would seem to be a good idea (whether that's through the farm system or trades, or (most likely) a combination of both is a decision I'll leave to Friedman and his team. Murakami might be a little younger, but he strikes out a bunch and we already have several guys who do that. I think we should probably look to improve in other ways, and I wish Murakami well in his MLB endeavors (except when he plays the Dodgers heh). I also don't think the fact that he had dinner with Yamamoto is necessarily a sign he is being "recruited" by the Dodgers. Yamamoto and Murakami are teammates on Team Japan, so they know each other. Murakami is looking to move to the MLB–something that Yamamoto has done (very successfully). Whether he goes to the Dodgers or a different team, it makes sense that Murakami might have some questions about the transition between NPB and MLB–whether is is specifically baseball related or more cultural / making the move to the US related. I guess we'll see how things unfold, but I don't see this as a particularly strong sign that Murakami is about to sign with the Dodgers.

  37. I don’t want to see pitchers suffer because of bad defense. We saw enough of that last season. It’s okay for offense to outweigh defense, but pitchers need at least average defense behind them. Once players sign a major league contract, it’s not fair for them to be using games as practice. I understand it for arbitration players, but for those with major league contracts, actual games shouldn’t be used for practice.

  38. Freddie Freeman may have two years left in his deal, but he’ll be a Dodger until he gets to his 3000th hit and it’ll take at least another year after this current contract to achieve that. You’re not pushing Freddie out the door so easily.

  43. I dont think he would be a Dodger. He will most likely be a Yankee. There may have been an underlying reason for his struggles the last 2 years, as he had an ailing elbow which changed his swing in contrast to his 2022 and 2023 seasons, his MVP seasons. As his elbow was rested properly, he raked once again.

    Shohei too in his final NPB season had a high strikeout rate of about 27%. He will hit 40-50 homers.

  44. There's no reason for the Dodgers to acquire Murakami, who is known for being a terrible defender. What position will they use him in? Are you going to put him at DH instead of Ohtani? Are you trying to say Murakami is better than Ohtani? I think Murakami just met Yamamoto for dinner to ask him all about the MLB.

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