White Sox Sign Japanese Slugger Munetaka Murakami

Murakami, 25, is a 6-foot-2, 213-pound left-handed hitter. Though he also has experience as a third baseman, Passan reported that Murakami is expected to play first base for the White Sox and that "questions of his defensive position gave teams pause in their pursuit of him."

That likely moves Miguel Vargas to third base and rounds out a potential starting infield with shortstop Colson Montgomery, second baseman Chase Meidroth and catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero.

During the 2025 season with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan, Murakami slashed .286/.392/.659/1.051 with 24 home runs, 52 RBIs, five stolen bases, 38 walks and 71 strikeouts across 263 plate appearances and 69 games.

Murakami brings a much-needed power boost to a White Sox roster that ranked 23rd in MLB in home runs and 28th in slugging percentage during the 2025 season. Highlighted by a career-high 56 home runs in 2022, Murakami hit at least 28 home runs in six straight seasons from 2019-24. In four of those seasons, he finished with an OPS above .970.

Despite his impressive power numbers, there are concerns around Murakami's swing-and-miss numbers. His 29.5% strikeout rate in 2025 was higher than the 17 White Sox players with the most plate appearances, aside from Michael A. Taylor's 33.8%.

Murakami struck out 180 times during the 2024 season, which also comes out to 29.5%. He totaled at least 115 strikeouts in six straight seasons from 2019-24, including three seasons with at least 168. Among qualified MLB hitters in 2025, only seven had higher strikeout rates than Murakami's 29.5%, including Ryan McMahon, James Wood, Mike Trout, Oneil Cruz, Riley Greene, Eugenio Suarez and Jordan Beck.

Wood and Suarez were still worth at least three wins above replacement in 2025, showing that a player can still be highly valuable despite such a strikeout rate. But Murakami's swing-and-miss deficiencies are nevertheless a key aspect of his game to monitor as he faces better pitching in MLB compared to Japan.