White Sox making MLB look silly with Munetaka Murakami move originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Chicago White Sox stepped in when every other team in MLB stepped out of the way.
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Munetaka Murakami entered free agency as a highly touted free agent from Japan. There’s a 30-day window for players from NPB to sign with MLB once officially posted, and for most of it, there was nothing.
Early projections had wondered if Murakami could get an $100 million contract. He wouldn’t even end up with half of that.
Most of the league apparently decided in unison that it wasn’t clear whether Murakami would make enough contact to be effective in MLB.
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His power wasn’t in question. He hit 56 home runs in 2022 in the second-best baseball league in the world.
But even in Japan, Murakami had some swing-and-miss in his game. So what would happen against better MLB pitching?
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The White Sox, with less talent on their roster than some of the top contenders, decided it was worth finding out. And so far, it turns out Murakami has looked just fine.
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Not only has he hit the ball a long way. He’s worked a bunch of walks, showing he knows how to control the strike zone.
“By his own admission, the left-handed-hitting first baseman from Japan has plenty of work to do as he begins his Major League career,” MLB.com’s Scott Merkin writes in a new article. “In fact, Murakami has focused more on early shortcomings and the process for improvement even when opening weekend accolades were heaped upon him. But Murakami became the first player in White Sox franchise history to have a home run in each of his first three big league games, not to mention producing a hit in each of his first five, an RBI in four of those five and showing great patience at the plate with a walk in three of those five. He appears to be a needed bonafide power source.”
It’s clearly early, and when the pitching around the league begins to discover Murakami’s weaknesses, he’ll have to make the proper adjustments to continue to produce.
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The White Sox have gotten the player they hoped to get, though. And the rest of the league may be regretting at least a bit already that they didn’t go after Murakami more.
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