{"id":584047,"date":"2026-02-21T02:38:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/584047\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T02:38:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T02:38:31","slug":"chicago-white-sox-munetaka-murakamis-productive-spring-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/584047\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago White Sox: Munetaka Murakami:’s productive spring debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Bad traffic nearly delayed Munetaka Murakami\u2019s spring debut with the Chicago White Sox.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, my God, crash,\u201d Murakami said in English of an incident leading to the tie-ups on the Phoenix-area roads.<\/p>\n

He continued through an interpreter: \u201cI was so concerned if I could make it on time. There was a big accident on the highway and I was just concerned the whole time. I was actually in the car until 12:50 (for a 1:05 p.m. start).\u201d<\/p>\n

The first baseman arrived just in time to remain in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

Photos: White Sox 8, Cubs 1 in Cactus League opener<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Murakami said he wasn\u2019t fully able to prepare for the game. But he still looked sharp, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs in an 8-1 victory against the Chicago Cubs in the Cactus League opener for both teams Friday at Sloan Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy how it went without any injuries,\u201d Murakami said. \u201cI had butterflies inside me the first few minutes of it. But after I started fielding and I got an at-bat, I felt a bit more comfortable and felt myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first at-bat, Murakami grounded out to second baseman Pedro Ram\u00edrez for the final out of the first inning.<\/p>\n

Murakami collected his first Cactus League hit his next time up with a sharp single up the middle in the third inning against Connor Schultz.<\/p>\n

Murakami batted with the bases loaded in the fourth inning against Porter Hodge and hit a fly to deep center that Seiya Suzuki had trouble locating. The ball landed on the warning track for a two-run double, extending the Sox lead to 6-1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great at-bat,\u201d Murakami said. \u201cI was able to get good angles on the bat and velocity. I\u2019m really happy how it went and how it went over my friend as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoWhite Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami hits a single in the third inning against the Cubs at Sloan Park on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

He struck out looking in his final at-bat in the sixth.\u00a0Murakami had two of the team\u2019s 12 hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cMune especially was stuck back there (in the traffic) and did a great job, and for his first spring game to have that happen but be able to collect himself and come out here and have a good game, that was awesome,\u201d manager Will Venable said.<\/p>\n

Venable was excited by the team\u2019s overall offensive production.<\/p>\n

The Sox homered twice against Cubs starter Jameson Taillon. Left fielder Austin Hays, who signed a one-year deal<\/a> in the offseason, hit a solo home run in the first inning. Second baseman Sam Antonacci, a prospect who will be playing for Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic<\/a>, connected for a two-run homer in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust put the ball in play, try to find a way to get on base for the people behind me,\u201d Antonacci said of his approach.<\/p>\n

Starter Jonathan Cannon<\/a> appreciated the run support, no matter the time of the year. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out three in 1 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWanted to work on the two fastballs, sinker and four-seam,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of been a point of emphasis this spring. And then just kind of dialing back in the offspeed command, I thought that could be better, that was just kind of the point of improvement going forward, could definitely be more in the zone a little bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut overall, I thought it was good, a lot to build off of, long spring ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murakami aided him defensively in the second inning when he knocked down B.J. Murray\u2019s hard-hit grounder, recovered the ball and flipped it to Cannon, who was covering first.<\/p>\n

After the adventures on the road, Murakami was glad to produce on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very relieved right now that I got one game past me,\u201d Murakami said of the overall experience. \u201cI was glad to get the two hits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murakami would like to play in five games before joining Team Japan<\/a> for the World Baseball Classic. He is scheduled to leave Feb. 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to give Mune a lot of credit,\u201d Venable said. \u201cThis guy is so committed and such a professional. We\u2019ve asked him to do some things that he hasn\u2019t necessarily been accustomed to and how he prepares and his adaptability and flexibility to do those things has been awesome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat adjustability gives you confidence that he\u2019s going to be able to go out there and make adjustments throughout the year. He\u2019s just a guy that even though he wants to play nine innings every one of these games, we\u2019ve got a plan for him and he\u2019s behind and supportive of what we\u2019ve laid out for him and he did a great job today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Injury update<\/p>\n

The Sox scratched right fielder Everson Pereira from Friday\u2019s starting lineup with tightness on his right side.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a little soreness,\u201d Venable said. \u201cJust really precautionary. Wanted to make sure we didn\u2019t put him in a tough spot. But he\u2019ll be day to day and we\u2019ll see where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Bad traffic nearly delayed Munetaka Murakami\u2019s spring debut with the Chicago White Sox. \u201cOh, my…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2399],"tags":[5,5250,76342,138,24,49,76341,4245,161,5794,4,73,998],"class_list":["post-584047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-cubs","tag-baseball","tag-cactus-league","tag-cactus-league-opener","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-chicago-white-sox-spring-training","tag-chicagocubs","tag-cubs","tag-jonathan-cannon","tag-mlb","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-will-venable"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116106305806869560","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}