Chicago White Sox prospect Munetaka Murakami arrived in Major League Baseball this offseason with modest expectations. Murakami showed impressive power and discipline at the plate in Nippon Professional Baseball, but concerns about his contact skills severely weighed on his contract, leading him to sign with the White Sox… rather than a team like the Los Angeles Dodgers.
But through 35 games, it looks like 29 MLB teams have made a huge mistake. Murakami has clearly made some adjustments, and heading into Tuesday he was tied for the MLB lead with 14 homers and tied for the American League lead with 28 RBIs.
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Those 14 home runs are more impressive than they appear on the surface. Every one of Murakami’s extra-base hits into Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels was a home run.
He continued that streak in the fourth inning, hitting a high fastball from Angels starter Jose Soriano to deep center for another home run.
The hit gave Murakami 14 extra-base hits this season, all home runs. According to MLB researcher Sarah Langs, it’s the longest streak since at least 1900 to start a player’s career.
However, the streak ended in the sixth inning when Murakami doubled up on reliever Mitch Farris. This was the first non-home run extra-base hit in Murakami’s career.
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To emphasize the absurdity of his numbers, here’s Murakami’s hit distribution in his first 35 MLB games.
• Total clicks: 30
• Singles: 15
• Doubles: 1
• Home runs: 14
To match those numbers, Murakami has walked 28 times. His exceptional plate discipline has given the rookie a .240/.377/.584 slash line so far, making him a younger version of Kyle Schwarber.
This is considered the best-case scenario for Murakami entering free agency. Although he showed great power and hitting ability in Japan, once Murakami arrived in the MLB, there were significant concerns about his ability to make enough contact and hit a powerful fastball. Those concerns likely led Murakami to sign a much smaller contract than expected – two years, $34 million.
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While Murakami’s contact and strikeout rates are high, hitting the ball at high velocity isn’t an issue. Takashi Murakami hit a home run off Soriano on Monday, becoming the only player in MLB this season to hit multiple home runs over 98.1 mph, Sarah Langs reports. Overall, he hit .270 against fastballs and had a .714 slugging percentage.
Thanks to Murakami’s contributions, the White Sox are off to a much better start to the season than expected. Following Monday’s 6-0 win, the White Sox are 17-18 on the season and just half a game shy of the AL Central Division lead.
Whether the White Sox can keep this momentum going will likely depend on how much Murakami adjusts once pitchers get better scouting reports. While downturns may be inevitable given the nature of baseball, Murakami has shown an ability to make big adjustments, giving hope that his hot start is an accurate representation of the player he will be moving forward.