🔗 Share this article

In a significant move for their retooling roster, the South Side team have signed infielder Munetaka Murakami, agreeing to a lucrative contract for the accomplished player.

Deal Structure and Player Perks

The agreement features a substantial signing bonus, payable within 30 days, alongside annual pay of sixteen million for the 2026 season and $17 million for the final year.

Importantly, Murakami's compensation may grow based on accolade achievements in 2026:

• $1 million for winning the MVP award.
• $500,000 for placing as runner-up or in third place in MVP voting.
• $250,000 for placing in the top ten.
• $250,000 for earning the ROY honor.

His deal includes that he cannot be sent to the farm system without his consent and grants him a unrestricted player at the conclusion of the deal. Additional perks include a team-provided interpreter and airfare between Japan and the U.S..

Posting Fee and Historical Context

As part of the transaction, Chicago must pay a transfer fee of roughly $6.58 million to the Swallows, Murakami's longtime team in Japan's professional league. The Yakult organization are also entitled to a supplemental fee of any triggered salary escalators.

Murakami will become the fourth-ever Japanese to suit up for the White Sox, following reliever Shingo Takatsu (2004-05), infielder Tadahito Iguchi (2005-07), and fielder Kosuke Fukudome (2012). Notably, Takatsu previously coached Murakami back in Japan.

Career Highlights

Murakami, a left-handed hitter who turns 26 soon, joins a emerging core of hitters in Chicago that includes prospects like Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel, and Chase Meidroth. The club are finished with a difficult season, placing at the bottom in the American League Central but showing a 19-game improvement from the year before campaign.

A two-time league MVP honors in consecutive seasons, Murakami is famous for a record-breaking 2022 season where he hit 56 home runs, breaking the all-time record for a player in Japan previously held by icon Sadaharu Oh. That performance also made him the youngest player ever to achieve Japan's prestigious Triple Crown.

His most recent NPB campaign was curtailed to just 56 appearances due to an oblique injury. Despite recording 64 Ks, he still managed .273 with 22 HRs and 47 driven in.

Over his eight-season tenure with the Yakult club, Murakami has compiled a .270 career batting average with 246 HRs, 647 runs batted in, and nearly 1,000 strikeouts in nearly 900 games. Early in his career playing primarily at first base, he has more recently played to the hot corner.

WBC Heroics

Murakami's big-game performance were on global view during the 2023 WBC. In the penultimate game against Mexico, he drove in a walk-off double that drove in Shohei Ohtani and Masataka Yoshida for a come-from-behind one-run win. The next night in the final against the USA, he slugged a tying shot in the early innings, setting the stage for Japan's 3-2 3-2 victory.

The lefty slugger is slated to be unveiled at a media availability on Monday.