Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami and the Chicago White Sox are in agreement on a two-year, $34 million contract, sources told ESPN on Sunday, landing the home run record-setter in Nippon Professional Baseball with a rebuilding team making its first free agent splash in years.
Murakami, 25, was arguably the most fascinating player to hit free agency this winter. A 6-foot-2, 230-pound left-handed slugger with elite exit velocity, he was the youngest player on the market and heads to Major League Baseball with 246 home runs in his eight seasons for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.
He has been a star in Japan since he hit 36 home runs as a 19-year-old in 2019. He followed that up with 56 home runs in 2022, breaking the record for a Japan-born player set in 1964 by Sadaharu Oh. Murakami, a two-time Central League MVP, missed time last season with an oblique injury but hit 22 home runs in 56 games with a .273/.379/.663 slash line.
While projections for Murakami to hit a financial jackpot preceded his free agency, concerns about his defense — he can play third base or first base — and his propensity to swing and miss at pitches in the zone caused a slower market than anticipated ahead of his 5 p.m. ET Monday deadline to sign.
Though teams tried to get in for lower-dollar long-term deals, Murakami opted for a higher-dollar short-term offering, allowing himself to prove his ability to adjust to superior MLB pitching.
Should he do so, Murakami would hit the market again at 27 and be primed to cash in on a megadeal, similar to how other free agents in recent seasons with softer-than-expected markets parlayed short-term contracts into long-term paydays.
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The leap in Murakami’s strikeout rate over the past three years (over 28% each season) and his 72.6% in-zone contact rate (would have been second lowest in MLB this year) illustrate the potential downside in his offensive game. But San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers remains productive with a high whiff rate, and Chicago saw the opportunity to bring in the sort of talent it typically does not have access to with a low payroll and a prospect-hoarding mentality.
Murakami’s 90th-percentile exit velocity would have been fifth in MLB, his maximum exit velocity 12th and his hard-hit rate first. For a White Sox team two years removed from the most losses in MLB history, adding Murakami to a lineup that includes promising young hitters in shortstop Colson Montgomery, catchers Kyle Teel and Edgar Quero, infielder Miguel Vargas, and second baseman Chase Meidroth brings even more hope after winning the draft lottery at the winter meetings.
The overwhelming favorite to go No. 1 in the July draft is UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, giving the White Sox a potential abundance of young infielders in the coming years.
Whether Murakami is manning first or third, he will be in the middle of a White Sox lineup in desperate need of power. With 165 home runs last season, the White Sox finished 14th of 15 American League teams, just ahead of the Kansas City Royals. In his eight seasons with the Swallows following his debut as an 18-year-old, Murakami hit .270/.394/.557 with a walk rate of greater than 16% and a strikeout rate nearing 26%.
Highlight reels of his home runs have long circulated on the internet in anticipation of Murakami’s arrival in MLB. He played a vital role in Japan’s victory in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, hammering a game-winning two-run double in the ninth inning of a semifinal win against Mexico.
Chicago saw that version of Murakami and will add him to perhaps the most uniquely constructed roster in baseball, with five players signed — Murakami, Luis Robert Jr. ($20 million), Andrew Benintendi ($17.1 million), Anthony Kay ($5 million) and Derek Hill ($900,000) — none eligible for arbitration and the remainder making around the major league minimum.
Murakami’s deal will cost the White Sox $40.575 million in total, with the Swallows receiving a $6.575 million posting fee to transfer him to Chicago.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel contributed to this report.
