Will Venable Comments on Munetaka Murakami's Brutal Slump

In the second game of the White Sox’ pivotal series against the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday, Murakami went 0-for-4 with a walk and four strikeouts.

That poor showing dropped the Japanese slugger’s slash line through 116 games to .202/.344/.460 with 31 home runs and 65 RBI. Murakami has drawn 86 walks, but his 181 strikeouts are the fifth most in MLB.

Will Venable Backs Munetaka Murakami Amid Struggles at the Plate

Following Chicago’s 7-6 walk-off loss in Cleveland on Tuesday, White Sox manager Will Venable kept his faith in Murakami while emphasizing that his presence in the White Sox’ lineup remains crucial.

“It’s not like moving him in the lineup is going to magically fix his swing… there’s still a presence that he has,” Venable said. “Evidence of that is there’s a couple times we thought they would walk [Miguel] Vargas to get to Mune. That just speaks to the respect they have for Mune. He’s still dangerous out there.”

Murakami has remained in the top half of Chicago’s lineup, hitting anywhere from second to fifth.

Still, he has struggled to reach base consistently. Murakami has just five hits in 51 at-bats across 14 games in September and has not recorded a multi-hit performance during that span.

Furthermore, he has not recorded two hits in a game since Aug. 28, which was also his only multi-hit outing in August. Murakami hit just .147 with five home runs, eight RBI, and a .647 OPS in 28 games.

Those numbers, especially given how long Murakami has struggled, could easily lead any hitter to slide in the batting order. But Venable and the White Sox seem set on keeping their young slugger in the heart of the lineup.

Chicago needs Murakami to return to the version he showed through July down the stretch: not the guy whose strikeout rate keeps climbing, but the guy who took the baseball world by storm when he first arrived in the majors.

Murakami could be a difference-maker in as tight an American League Central race as possible. Entering Wednesday, the White Sox (77-74) lead the Guardians (77-75) by just a half-game. The good news, though, is that Chicago has already clinched the head-to-head season series (7-5) with one game to play.

Wednesday’s game will either extend Chicago’s division lead to 1.5 games or drop the White Sox to a half-game deficit to Cleveland.

The first pitch of Wednesday’s game between the White Sox and Guardians is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET.

More on the Chicago White Sox