Sources: Japanese HR king Murakami available to MLB teams
Star Japanese third baseman Munetaka Murakami enters the posting system Friday, officially kicking off the process for one of the most anticipated free agencies of the winter, sources tell ESPN.
Murakami, 25, holds the single-season home run record for a Japanese player in Nippon Professional Baseball, having hit 56 home runs in 2022 to break Sadaharu Oh’s record of 55, set in 1964. A prolific power hitter, Murakami leaves the Tokyo Yakult Swallows with 246 home runs during his eight seasons in Japan.
His hitting prowess should draw widespread interest among Major League Baseball teams this winter. Murakami’s 45-day window to sign will begin at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday, sources said, assuring he will sign with a big league team before it expires at 5 p.m. on Dec. 22.
Murakami, who can also play first base, is one of the gems of a big class of players expected to come out of Asia this winter. Others expected to join MLB teams through the posting system — which facilitates the transfer of players whose rights teams still control from Japan and Korea to MLB — and international free agency include right-hander Tatsuya Imai, first baseman Kazuma Okamoto and right-hander Kona Takahashi. Also expected to return to MLB are right-hander Cody Ponce, who went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA in the Korea Baseball Organization, as well as left-handers Foster Griffin and Anthony Kay, who both pitched in Japan.
A left-handed hitter, Murakami only played in 56 games this year due to an oblique injury, but still hit 22 home runs with a .273/.379/.663 slash line. While concerns about his propensity to strikeout, and particularly his swing and miss rate in the zone, will give teams pause, Murakami’s age and upside are enticing enough for his free agency to turn into a frenzy.
The arrival of Japanese players has fueled the last two championships, with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to World Series victories. Los Angeles guaranteed over $1 billion to sign Ohtani as a free agent and pluck Yamamoto from the Orix Buffaloes via the posting system.
MLB teams that recruit players by assignment must pay a fee to the Asian team from which the player is transferred: 20% for the first $25 million, 17.5% for the next $25 million, and an additional 15% on each dollar over $50 million.
Murakami is widely expected to get a nine-figure deal, plus a publishing fee of at least $16.9 million. High-ranking MLB executives have scouted several of Murakami’s games this season and have been impressed, sources say.
In his eight seasons with the Swallows after debuting at age 18, Murakami hit .270/.394/.557 with a walk rate above 16% and a strikeout rate near 26%.
