Munetaka Murakami’s bat has been the kind of force that can drag a team forward, or leave it stuck in place when it goes quiet. For the White Sox, that reality has become impossible to ignore as they try to steady themselves in the AL Central race.
Chicago gave up its division lead for the first time since July after a rough first half of September, but one day later the White Sox were back even with the Cleveland Guardians. Murakami helped make sure of that. After the team dropped two of three on the road in Cleveland, it came home looking for a spark, and the 26-year-old delivered in a 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers at Rate Field.
He wasted no time getting involved. Murakami crushed the first pitch he saw in the first inning, turning a Framber Valdez sinker into a three-run homer that traveled 423 feet over the center field fence. Then in the bottom of the eighth, he added something else to the box score: the first triple of his MLB career, a hustle play down the right-field line.
That was a welcome jolt for a hitter who had been ice-cold coming into the night. Murakami was just 5-for-52 in September with two home runs and six RBIs, and since August he had gone 20-for-154 with 77 strikeouts.
The slump has dragged down the numbers that looked so strong earlier in the year. Since the All-Star break, his slugging percentage has fallen from .540 to .402, and his OPS has dropped from .911 to .722.
Over that same stretch, he’s hit .177 with 96 strikeouts, and the concerns about his ability to make consistent contact in the strike zone have started to surface again.
Still, the bigger picture explains why the White Sox keep leaning on him. Even after missing several weeks with an injury, Murakami leads the team with 32 home runs and a .471 slugging percentage.
He also ranks third on the club in runs scored and on-base percentage. For a lineup that has often lived and died with his production, getting him going at the right moment could be the difference in the final stretch.
The White Sox have already seen what Murakami can do when everything clicks. Their best month came in May, when they went 18-10 and he posted an .938 OPS with eight home runs, both season highs for a single month.
September has been a different story. Outside of a five-game stretch in March, it’s been the White Sox’s worst month, as they’ve gone 6-10.
It’s also been Murakami’s worst month at the plate, where he’s hitting just .125 with a .567 OPS.
Even through the slump, there are still signs that the underlying tools remain loud. Murakami ranks near the top of the league in barrel rate, hard-hit rate, bat speed, chase rate and walk rate.
The problem has been the swing-and-miss. His near-43% whiff rate is the worst in MLB, even though his 22.3% chase rate sits in the 80th percentile.
That was one of the two big concerns teams had when he reached free agency. The other was whether he could handle the increased velocity in MLB, and that question, at least, he has already answered.
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Murakami is already under contract through 2027 after signing a two-year deal before the season, which gives both sides some breathing room. For now, Chicago appears content to let the bat settle first and revisit the bigger-picture contract discussion later, a clear sign that the front office likes the fit but is willing to wait for better performance before making a long-term commitment. [Read more 🡒]