Munetaka Murakami’s historic start continues as the White Sox slugger launched his 12th home run of the season on Monday, powering his way to the top of MLB’s home run leaderboard.
Major League Baseball has a new home run leader, and his name is Munetaka Murakami.
The 26-year-old first baseman launched a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give his Chicago White Sox the lead over the Los Angeles Angels and eventually propel them to victory.
It was Murakami's 12th home run of the season, as he now sits with a .965 OPS and more home runs than any player in baseball through his first 29 career games. Houston's Yordan Alvarez and New York's Aaron Judge sit just one home run behind Murakami at 11.
For Murakami, it also extends his record for home runs by a rookie before the start of May, as well as the record for home runs by a Chicago White Sox player before the start of May.
Murakami's blast on Monday night was a perfect demonstration of why his power production isn't going anywhere. This wasn't another 450-foot blast that comes off the bat at 115 mph. This was Murakami hitting a 93 mph fastball at a 48-degree launch angle and still having enough bat speed to muscle it into the right-field bullpen.
That was just one degree shy of the highest launch angle home run in the Statcast era, which dates back to 2015. But with a bat speed of 79.8 mph, Murakami is strong enough to muscle just about anything out of the yard.
We've seen him turn around high fastballs. We've seen him go the other way, flick his wrists, and send a breaking ball over the fence to the opposite field. But we've also seen him come just short of a home run on a handful of occasions when he had no business hitting the ball that far in the first place, given the swing and pitch location.
That's why he has eight (8) home runs in his last 13 games. And strangely, it's also why he hasn't hit a double yet this season in 126 plate appearances.
If Murakami is hitting the ball in the air and hitting it hard enough to get it in the gap for extra bases, he's probably just taking it over the fence. But as far as White Sox fans are concerned, Murakami doesn't need any other extra-base hits if he's leading baseball in home runs.
Murakami is currently on pace to play in all 162 games for the White Sox and finish with 67 home runs and 128 RBIs. Obviously, that's a pace that's pretty unsustainable, as it would break the all-time American League record for home runs previously set by Aaron Judge at 62 back in 2022. But something like 40-45 home runs feels more than attainable right now for Murakami, and that would unquestionably be a win for the White Sox.
Even with the team sitting at 12-17, people are going to the ballpark to watch Murakami swing the bat, and the White Sox are already seeing the payoff of their offseason investment.
Chicago has the MLB home run leader and an undeniable superstar on its hands. Now the question naturally becomes, can they find a way to keep him on the South Side long-term? The Sox have not yet engaged with Murakami in talks about a contract extension.