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The blind spot that made White Sox’s Munetaka Murakami a ‘bad miss’ for other teams
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- The blind spot that made White Sox’s Munetaka Murakami a ‘bad miss’ for other teams
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The Chicago White Sox continue to get monster production from Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami . Murakami blasted his 15th home run of the season on Friday. Many Major League Baseball insiders are now debating why so many other teams didn't take a chance on the infielder, ahead of the 2026 season.
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A new ESPN report points to Murakami's strikeout totals in Japan . Murakami collected quite a few in the early days of his career there.
"Murakami struck out 977 times in 892 career NPB games, including 180 times during a subpar 2024 season. His strikeout rate was more than 28% in each of his final three seasons in Japan and his 72.6% in-zone contact rate would have been the second worst in MLB in 2025," ESPN's Jesse Rogers reported.
That area–missing contact while the ball is in the strike zone–is something that analysts look at as to why Murakami didn't get a better offer.
"It was a bad miss by everyone," one American League official said. "In-zone miss scares people, and it was hard to project that versus improved pitching. It's one of the blind spots of hitting projection models, so it winds up hurting the confidence for every team."
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There were also questions about Murakami's defense, ahead of the 2026 season. Murakami signed a $34 million contract with Chicago for two seasons.
"He's signed here to win," White Sox pitcher Davis Martin said. "You see that intensity in between innings, in the dugout. After a homer, he's screaming at everybody. He's injected a lot of life into this clubhouse. … It's fun. He's learning English and we're learning Japanese."
Even though the White Sox ended up getting Murakami to sign a contract, they weren't the only team interested in the Japanese infielder. The Pittsburgh Pirates also wanted Murakami .
The White Sox infielder is currently tied for first in MLB in home runs, with New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge . Chicago has a 17-21 record this season.
Related: Why White Sox's Andrew Benintendi was scratched vs. Mariners on Saturday
