Murakami Signed Two-Year Deal With White Sox

Munetaka Murakami Signs Two-Year Deal With White Sox

By JJ Misiewicz

Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images

December 21, 2025

Highly-coveted NPB slugger Munetaka Murakami signed a two-year, $34 million deal with the Chicago White Sox, first reported by Jeff Passan of ESPN. Murakami’s posting window for major league teams was set to end on December 22 at 5 pm Eastern.

NPB Legacy

Munetaka Murakami made his debut in the Japan Central League in 2018. In six games, he had one hit, that being a home run. Starting in 2019, he’d become one of Japan’s most feared hitters.

His 24 home runs would be his lowest count on a season, with that coming in an abbreviated 2025 campaign derailed by injuries. His peak came in the 2022 season, where he notched a triple crown. Murakami’s final numbers were a .318 batting average, 56 home runs, and 134 RBI’s.

HIs 56 home runs also broke the record for most home runs in a season by a Japanese-born player, taking the record from Sadaharu Oh, the man widely considered to be NPB’s greatest player of all time.

Murakami hit 265 career home runs across eight seasons in NPB. He managed a .394 on-base percentage, and notching a .945 OPS.

Murakami’s Concerns

As mentioned above, Murakami only played 56 games in this past season, due to an oblique injury suffered during his first game back from elbow surgery.

Although he logged 24 home runs in this past season, he also struck out 34% of the time. Swing-and-miss is a big part of his game, and it’s probably his worst on-the-field habit. His below average defense for third base will probably push him to being a first baseman/designated hitter.

White Sox Core

The White Sox could have something strong going on. Murakami getting signed by the White Sox adds onto a core of young ballplayers ready to take a step up. Despite a bad season, Kyle Teel, Chase Meidroth and Colson Montgomery are already performing at a great rate considering their age and potential. The White Sox also boast five top 100 prospects according to MLB Pipeline.

All this promise, and that’s not even considering the White Sox have the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft. Roch Cholowsky is the slam dunk #1 pick. Adding him to all that promise, the White Sox could be a serious playoff contender in a few years.