This year, 2026, Shohei Ohtani's low home run count has become a major topic of discussion in both Japan and the US. In 2024, Ohtani hit a league-leading 54 home runs, and in 2025, he hit a career-high 55 home runs, ranking second in the league. It's fair to say that everyone recognized Ohtani as a hitter capable of hitting many home runs. However, as of the end of May 2026, Ohtani’s home run count is only 10. If he continues at this pace, he will finish the season with 27

Munetaka Murakami, a talented hitter who played in Japanese Professional baseball, will be playing for the Chicago White Sox starting this year. I imagine that baseball fans in the United States don't know much about what kind of baseball player Munetaka Murakami is. So, I'd like to talk about him from my own personal perspective. A magazine featuring all 56 home runs hit by Munetaka Murakami in 2022 (in Japanese, 2022, TAKARAJIMASHA, INC., Tokyo, Japan) When talking about

I’ ve been steadily conducting various analyses of Major League Baseball records for a long time, but they’ re all based on my own personal preferences. One of these analyses is the “rankings in eight batting categories.” Each year, I examine each player’ s league ranking in eight categories: hits, walks, home runs, runs, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. It’ s difficult to achieve high rankings in all eight categories. For example, a player

In June 2013, while on a road trip around the United States, I visited Demorest, Georgia, a small city with a population of less than 2,000. Johnny Mize (who died in 1993 at age 80), one of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history, was born and raised in Demorest. He studied at Piedmont College in Demorest, where he devoted himself to baseball and became a major leaguer. Piedmont College houses the “Johnny Mize Athletic Center”, a memorial to him. Johnny Mize p

All home run leaders (the players with the most home runs in each season in each league) naturally possess incredible power. But are...