Munetaka Murakami signing with White Sox: Why NPB slugger only landed a two-year deal despite prodigious power
Murakami was the top power hitter in Japan, despite strikeout problems
Japanese third baseman Munetaka Murakami is joining the Chicago White Sox on a two-year contract worth $34 million, CBS Sports has confirmed. The team has not yet announced the signing.
The $34 million contract is well beneath expectations for Murakami, pointing to a weak market for his services. It's significantly less than the $90 million deal the Boston Red Sox handed Masataka Yoshida three years ago that remains the richest contract given to a Japanese position player.
Murakami, 26 in February, has been the top power hitter in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball the last several years, and that includes slugging 22 home runs in 56 games around elbow surgery and an oblique strain in 2025. He has averaged 42.6 home runs per 162 games with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, who made him available to MLB teams via the posting system this winter.
We ranked Murakami as the seventh-best free agent available this offseason. Here's the write-up:
Murakami launched his name into orbit back in 2022, when he homered 56 times to break Sadaharu Oh's single-season Nippon Professional Baseball record for a Japanese-born player. Clearly he has elite strength. Alas, the ensuing years haven't been as kind. He swings and misses a ton, even within the zone, and his strikeout rate has cleared 28% three seasons in a row -- NPB hasn't experienced the same K-rate creep as MLB, making that one of the worst marks among regulars. There've long been questions about his viability at the hot corner too, with first base appearing as his long-term home. Murakami's power and youth (he'll turn 26 in February) will go a long way in making a team forgive those blemishes, with a left-handed Eugenio Suárez serving as a good outcome here.
Because he is 25, Murakami was able to sign a contract of any size this offseason, similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto two years ago. Player younger than 25 are subject to baseball's international bonus pools, severely limiting their earning potential. Roki Sasaki came to MLB through that process last offseason and signed a minor-league contract with a $6.5 million signing bonus.
The White Sox owe the Swallows a posting fee for signing Murakami. Here is the posting fee structure:
- Contract worth less than $25 million: 20% of contract value
- Contract worth $25 million to $50 million: $5 million plus 17.5% of amount over $25 million
- Contract worth more than $50 million: $9.275 million plus 15% of amount over $50 million
That puts Murakami's posting fee at just over $6.5 million.
Here are three other things to know about the Murakami signing.
1. Market limited by translation concerns
As noted above, Murakami's game had some major blemishes -- notably his strikeout rate and his lack of a true defensive position. He's expected to play first base for the White Sox, but that doesn't negate the hit-tool concerns.
For perspective, consider that Murakami had struck out at least 28% of the time in three consecutive seasons. Here's how some other recent NPB hitters have been their K rates behave after transferring:
| Batter | Final season NPB K% | First season MLB K% | Net |
|---|---|---|---|
Munetaka Murakami | 28.6% | TBD | TBD |
Masataka Yoshida | 8.7 | 14% | +5.3% |
16.5% | 24.7% | +8.2 | |
27.3% | 27.8% | +0.5% | |
15.9% | 18.6% | +2.7% | |
Yoshi Tsutsugo | 25.3% | 27% | +1.7% |
Everyone but Ohtani, the ultimate outlier, gained at least 1.5 percentage points. If Murakami follows suit, he'll clear a 30% strikeout rate in 2026. Only a handful of qualified MLB batters K'd so often last season, with two of the five finishing below a league-average offensive output. Given Murakami's lack of speed and defense, his power will have to port -- and immediately -- for him to provide value.
2. White Sox have risky, intriguing infield
With Murakami now penciled in at first base, the White Sox figure to run out an infield that also includes shortstop Colson Montgomery, third baseman Miguel Vargas, and some combination of Chase Meidroth and Lenyn Sosa at second.
Depending on how Murakami's bat plays in MLB, the White Sox's infield could feature multiple players capable of homering 20-plus times -- Montgomery and Sosa both cleared that mark last season, and Vargas came close.
Of course, that group is also highly prone to striking out, but these White Sox should be a far cry from 2023, when they received fewer than 10 combined home runs from their primary double-play combination.
3. Other top Japanese free agents remain in play
While Murakami is now spoken for, there are still some other intriguing NPB transfers in play. Among them: right-hander Tatsuya Imai and infielder Kazuma Okamoto.
Imai, ranked by CBS Sports as the 12th-best free agent, has until Jan. 2 to sign a contract. He's considered one of the best right-handed starters on the market thanks to mid-90s fastball and unusual slider. He has battled his command in the past, however, which is something teams will need to be mindful about when they commit to him for the long haul.
Okamoto, CBS Sports' No. 22 free agent, is older and less famous than Murakami. He may end up outhitting him, at least at the onset of their careers, because he doesn't have the same level of hit-tool risk. Okamoto has until Jan. 4 to make a deal.
