Munetaka Murakami homered to left field in the first inning at Rate Field on May 8, a 380-foot shot off Seattle's Emerson Hancock. It was his 15th home run of the season, tying Aaron Judge for the major league lead.
Judge had pulled ahead with his own 15th earlier in the week. Murakami has answered each time the leaderboard seemed ready to separate.
The numbers this season: a .241 batting average, a .374 on-base percentage, a .586 slugging percentage, and a .960 OPS. Fifteen home runs, 29 RBI, 29 walks. One double. Zero triples. Nearly all of his extra-base hits have left the ballpark entirely. Until May 4, when he doubled off the Angels' Mitch Farris, every one of Murakami's extra-base hits had been a home run — 14 home runs before his first double, a record for the most home runs hit to begin a career before hitting a double or triple.
The strikeouts are there. Murakami has struck out 56 times, a rate that places him in the 12th percentile among qualified hitters. His whiff rate sits in the bottom two percent of the league. He swings through pitches at a rate that would bury most hitters. He is not most hitters.
What separates Murakami is what happens when he does make contact. His walks — 29 this season — rank in the 98th percentile. He does not chase. When pitchers make mistakes, he does not miss them. His 15 home runs have come on pitches he decided to swing at, not pitches he was fooled into swinging at. The swing decisions, as White Sox general manager Chris Getz described them, have been elite.
Murakami signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the White Sox on December 21, 2025, posted from the Tokyo Yakult Swallows after eight NPB seasons. The contract was smaller than many expected for a player who hit 56 home runs in 2022 — breaking Sadaharu Oh's record for the most home runs by a Japanese-born player — and delivered a walk-off double in the 2023 World Baseball Classic championship against the United States. Contact concerns helped keep his market below the level his NPB power record might have suggested.
In his first three career games, Murakami homered in each one, becoming the first player in White Sox history and the fourth in MLB history to accomplish that. In late April, he homered in five consecutive games, tying the franchise record. On April 17, he hit a grand slam over the batter's eye at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. By May 1, he led the majors with 13 home runs.
The home run race is not a two-man affair — several hitters remain within range. But the visual of Murakami, a first-year player on a rebuilding roster, trading home run totals with Judge, one of baseball's defining power hitters, is the kind of storyline that does not require explanation. It simply requires attention.
"I'm not really focused on any particular stat," Murakami said through interpreter Kenzo Yagi after his five-game home run streak. "If the stats do come up as all good, that will be wonderful."
Murakami's contract runs through 2027, after which he becomes a free agent. The question of what comes next — for him and for the White Sox — exists in the background. For now, the foreground is simpler. Fifteen home runs. Tied for the major league lead. In his 38th major league game.