Munetaka Murakami : A big rookie for the Chicago White Sox
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
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.
When talking about Murakami in Japan, the first thing that comes to mind is probably his Triple Crown win in 2022. So, I'd like to start with that.
Including Murakami, there are six Japanese players who have won the Triple Crown at least once in Japanese Professional Baseball. Two other foreign players have also won the Triple Crown in Japanese Professional Baseball. (These are Boomer Wells, who came to Japan after playing a total of two years with the Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins, and Randy Bass, who came to Japan after playing a total of six years with five teams, primarily the San Diego Padres.) Of the six Japanese players, four were in their 30s to win the Triple Crown (the two foreign players were also in their 30s). Only two were in their 20s: Murakami and Hiromitsu Ochiai. Hiromitsu Ochiai is, in my opinion, the best right-handed hitter in the history of Japanese professional baseball, and the only player in the history of Japanese professional baseball to have won the Triple Crown three times (even Sadaharu Oh, who is famous in the United States, only won the Triple Crown twice), and he was 28 years old the first time. Murakami, on the other hand, was 22 years old. This means that Murakami is the youngest Triple Crown winner in the history of Japanese professional baseball.
For reference, let me mention the ages of MLB Triple Crown winners. Of the 12 players who have won the Triple Crown at least once, 10 were in their 20s. The remaining two were in their 30s: Lou Gehrig, who was 31, and Frank Robinson, who was 30. In other words, unlike Japanese professional baseball, many Triple Crown winners in MLB are in their 20s. The youngest player to win the Triple Crown in MLB was 22-year-old Ty Cobb. He was the same age as Murakami when he won the Triple Crown in Japan.
Of the 12 MLB Triple Crown winners, four are players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed: Ty Cobb, Chuck Klein, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemski. Meanwhile, of the six Japanese Triple Crown winners, Murakami is the only one who throws right-handed and bats left-handed. Many people may be wondering what this means, so let me explain.
In the past, many of Japanese players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed took advantage of their proximity to first base to increase their infield hits and raise their batting average, but few hit many long hits like home runs. Since 1950, when the two-league system began in Japanese professional baseball, only seven Japanese players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed led their league in home runs. Of those seven, only two came in the 20th century, and five came in the 21st century. One of those five is Murakami.
Furthermore, of the Japanese players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season in Japanese Professional Baseball, only two have been players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed. Both of them achieved this in the 21st century. Hideki Matsui, who played in the MLB for a total of ten years, mainly for the New York Yankees, achieved it in 2002 before moving to MLB, and Murakami achieved it in 2022.
For comparison, in MLB, of the players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season, nine have been players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed. Of these nine, the first to achieve this was Johnny Mize in 1947.
In Japan, it was generally accepted that a player who throws right-handed and bats left-handed Japanese could have a high batting average but not hit many home runs, making it impossible for him to win the Triple Crown. However, in 2022, Murakami maintained a high batting average and hit many home runs, becoming the first Japanese player who throws right-handed and bats left-handed in Japanese professional baseball history to win the Triple Crown. Murakami's record of 56 home runs that year is the highest number of home runs in a single season by a Japanese player in Japanese professional baseball.
When it comes to Japanese players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed and hit many home runs, Shohei Ohtani is surely the first name that comes to mind for many people. There's no doubt that Shohei Ohtani is the greatest hitter who throws right-handed and bats left-handed Japan has ever produced, but during his time in Japanese Professional Baseball, he never led the league in home runs, nor did he hit more than 50 home runs—both of which he achieved after moving to MLB.
It's only since the 21st century that a number of Japanese players who throw right-handed and bat left-handed and hit many home runs have emerged, including Ohtani and Murakami. I plan to publish a future column that explains in detail why such batters were so rare in the 20th century and why their numbers have increased since the 21st century, along with the issue of switch hitters... Unlike in MLB, in Japanese Professional Baseball, a switch hitter who hits many home runs has yet to appear.
I hope you've figured out by now that Murakami is the youngest Triple Crown winner in Japanese Professional Baseball history, the only Japanese player to win the Triple Crown as a player who throws right-handed and bats left-handed, and the holder of the record for most home runs by a Japanese player in a single season with 56.
Many people point out that Murakami strikes out a lot, and say that this is a problem. It's true that Murakami strikes out a lot. He led the league in strikeouts in four of his eight seasons in Japanese Professional Baseball. However, his strikeout rate fluctuates significantly from season to season. Calculating his AB/SO (number of at-bats divided by number of strikeouts, indicating strikeout frequency) over the eight seasons yields the following results: 2.40 (2018), 2.78 (2019), 3.69 (2020), 3.76 (2021), 3.88 (2022), 2.95 (2023), 2.78 (2024), 2.92 (2025). In 2022, when he hit 56 home runs and won the Triple Crown, he struck out once every 3.88 at-bats, a decent number. However, his rate has worsened since the following year. It's unclear why this happened, but perhaps he began to feel the pressure of winning the Triple Crown. However, some say that the reason is that when he played for Japan in the WBC in the spring of 2023 and witnessed the incredible batting skills of Major Leaguers, including his teammate Shohei Ohtani, he became keenly aware that his own batting level was not up to par with theirs, which caused him to become confused and worried. Whatever the reason, I hope Murakami can return to his 2022 form and strike out even less.
Murakami turned 26 in February of this year. That's a good age for a major league rookie, and some people believe that in the United States, it's desirable to train in the minor leagues and then be promoted to the major leagues by the age of 26. For reference, here are the ages of some notable Japanese major leaguers when they made their major league debut: Hideo Nomo, 26; Ichiro, 27; Hideki Matsui, 28; Yu Darvish, 25; Shohei Ohtani, 23; and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 25.
Murakami is loved by many Japanese people. The “kami” part of his name, Murakami, is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for “god.” When you add the Japanese honorific “sama” to this “kami,” it becomes “kami-sama.” Japanese people often refer to God as “kami-sama” with respect. Japanese baseball fans also call Murakami “mura-kami-sama,” meaning “Mura-God.” This phrase, “mura-kami-sama,” has been recognized as the most popular phrase in Japan in 2022. This shows how much Murakami is loved and highly anticipated by many Japanese people.
(If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)