Munetaka Murakami, the next Japanese baseball talent on the LA Dodgers radar

Major League Baseball is gearing up for the start of free agency which commences on November 6th. Teams will be looking to strengthen their rosters for another chance at the title in the 2026 season. So far, the names of 137 players now in search of a new team have been released.

In addition to the players already in the MLB, franchises are looking at the options available in the Japanese baseball league, thanks to the good performance of players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The next Japanese player who is expected to become a major talent is Munetaka Murakami, who played for the Yakult Swallows of the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and hit 22 home runs with 47 RBIs and an OPS of 1.043 in 56 games during the past season despite having injuries that kept him out of action.

Murakami has played most of his career at third base, although he has also played first base; his lifetime numbers have been outstanding with 246 home runs in 892 games, with a 56-home run season in 2022.

As if that weren’t enough, the left-hander won the Triple Crown in 2022, at 22 years old, becoming the youngest player in league history to achieve the distinction.

Both the Dodgers and the NY Mets are reported to be monitoring his development and progression.

Munetaka Murakami, the next Japanese baseball talent on the LA Dodgers radar

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