Munetaka Murakami struck out against the Tampa Bay Rays in the sixth inning at Rate Field on April 16, another quiet moment in a start that has quickly become less explosive than his first week in the majors. The 26-year-old, who opened his MLB career with three home runs in his first three games, is now trying to turn the page on a stretch that has tested both his timing and the White Sox’s patience.
Murakami said earlier this week through interpreter Kenzo Yagi that the main task was getting used to the different pitches he is seeing. He said he has been seeing a lot of pitches and making preparation his first priority after a 1-for-25 skid, and he homered to snap that drought and end a 10-day wait for his first long ball. Through his first 19 career games, he carried a.167/.346/.417 line with five home runs, five singles, 26 strikeouts and 17 walks in 60 at-bats.
The numbers explain why every at-bat has drawn attention. Murakami’s bat speed has been 74.1 mph, with an average exit velocity of 93.7 mph and a 22.9% barrel rate, but he has also struck out in 33.3% of his plate appearances and posted a 41.3% whiff rate. Opponents have gone after him with high heat and have also targeted his tendency to chase offspeed and breaking pitches, a combination that has kept him from settling in even as his raw power has shown up.
That adjustment matters because the White Sox have needed offense wherever they can find it. The club entered the stretch below the Mendoza line at.195 and carried an MLB-worst.602 OPS, making Murakami’s development part of a larger struggle for runs. Chicago signed him to a two-year, $34 million deal knowing the swing-and-miss would come with the power, and the organization still sounds willing to live with the early volatility.
Murakami said the routine has not changed much, aside from using the Sox Trajekt machine to see pitches from unfamiliar arms before he faces them. Hitting director Ryan Fuller said the adjustment for Murakami is simple in theory: dial it back a little, see the ball a little bit deeper and use the whole field. Fuller added that Murakami’s ability to make adjustments at a really high level has been very impressive, noting that his swings are starting to look more fluid and he is finding the barrel more often.
General manager Chris Getz said he is not worried about the adjustment period, which is the clearest sign the White Sox are still judging Murakami by the long view. As the club headed west to open a three-game series against the Athletics, the early home runs still loomed over everything, but so did the strikeouts, the chase rate and the waiting game that every pitcher now seems willing to make him play.