Fans might remember brief cups of coffee with So Taguchi or Tadahito Iguchi, but no Japanese player has ever debuted in the major leagues after signing a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Will Dave Dombrowski reverse the historic trend by signing Munetaka Murakami?
The Phillies have finally increased their operations in the Far East more recently with big picture goals to attract high-profile free agents. Will the small steps help them burst onto a market that the Los Angeles Dodgers have apparently cornered?
Munetaka Murakami
Murakami will turn 26 before spring training, and he’ll enter MLB free agency at a younger age than Alex Bregman and most of the top available hitters on the MLB offseason market.
He began his Nippon Professional Baseball career at age 18, and his power numbers in eight seasons have risen and fallen significantly year to year. The stocky 6-foot-2 slugger hit 18 home runs and posted a 1.051 OPS in limited action for the Yakult Swallows last season. He set the NPB single-season record with 56 home runs in 2022, but his numbers dipped back down to Earth immediately after the career year.
Murakami flashed on the international stage during the 2023 World Baseball Classic. His walk-off double against Mexico sent Japan to the championship game in Miami, where he homered off Merrill Kelly to help his club defeat the United States.
Murakami’s batting stance resembles his countryman Shohei Ohtani and many other Japanese hitters. He holds the bat further away from his body than most major league hitters. MLB fans have seen Ohtani at his best when using the technique smoothly to turn on inside pitches with outrageous pull power.
A high strikeout is the biggest potential red flag that MLB front offices will consider when assessing the lure of a foreign superstar. The era of analytics significantly impacts MLB personnel decisions.
While enough Japanese hitters have assimilated into the American game to inspire confidence, the decision-makers still won’t directly translate their advanced statistics in the same terms they use to evaluate hitters with track records in the majors.
MLB pitching quality has reached its highest level in recent seasons with increasing velocity and spin rate. Nippon Professional Baseball conversely has a lower total strikeout rate. The weakness will become a critical point of scrutiny for major league scouts.
Murakami plays both corner infield positions. While he’s spent more time at first base, MLB third basemen often fit organizations with aging players locked in at first.
Phillies in Japanese Market
The Phillies signed Japanese pitcher Koyo Aoyagi to a minor league contract last offseason. Dombrowski spoke entering spring training in February 2025 about the value of the player in tandem with the organization’s long-term goals to attract Japanese talent.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki had previously signed with the Dodgers in consecutive offseasons without significant consideration to the Phillies’ interest in long-term contracts.
Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images
“(We) scout there a lot more (the Far East). We have more individuals that are part of the organization, and we think it’s a great opportunity to show somebody how welcoming our organization is to the individuals from there. So hopefully, that will also be part of the equation.”
-Dave Dombrowski
Aoyagi struggled with a 7.22 ERA in 23 games in the organization’s minor league system last season. The Phillies released him in July 2025, and he returned to Japan to make three appearances with Murakami’s Yakult club.
If the Phillies pursue Murakami, there’s no guarantee he’s interested in debuting at Citizens Bank Park after the Japanese experiment with Aoyagi failed.
The Phillies also face questions about his stylistic fit. Their lineup has leaned heavily on left-handed hitters in recent seasons and struggled at times with high strikeouts rates.
While a marriage doesn’t appear likely, the variety of avenues of the Phillies offseason leaves too many puzzle pieces to discount the option of signing any prominent free agent.
Kyle Schwarber will most likely stay in Philadelphia, but one surprising turn for an aging designated hitter could completely fit the script on the Phillies, create a need for a pure power hitter, and alter the concerns about the lineup’s reliance on left-handed hitters.
If the puzzle pieces fall into place differently than the prognosticators expect, don’t discount Munetaka Murakami as an option for a Phillies team in one of the most intriguing MLB offseasons in recent history.