WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After a boisterous introduction to Major League Baseball with three home runs in his first three games, the hits haven’t been easy to come by for Munetaka Murakami.
The slugger dubbed the Babe Ruth of Higo, Japan, has looked more like the Adam Dunn of yore with his three-true-outcome propensity, a big swing-and-miss profile the White Sox knew and embraced when it brought him down to their price range for a two-year, $34 million deal.
But to revive one of baseball’s worst offenses, the Sox will need some more positive outcomes from Murakami beyond the strikeouts, walks and dingers their 26-year-old first baseman has piled up in the early going. Murakami says he knows he can get there as he adjusts in kind to the big-league pitchers adjusting to his prodigious bat.
“The pitchers have come out with a different variety of pitches obviously from the first series and now. But again, it’s about getting used to it,” Murakami said earlier this week via interpreter Kenzo Yagi, after smacking his first homer in 10 days to break a 1-for-25 skid at the plate. “I’m seeing a lot of pitches right now. Getting used to it and getting that preparation is my first priority.”
As the Sox headed west to open a three-game series against the Athletics, Murakami carried a lopsided .167/.346/.417 line over his first 19 career games, with five homers and five singles in 60 at-bats against a whopping 26 strikeouts and 17 walks.
He’s still buoying a cellar-dwelling Sox offense that was collectively below the Mendoza line (.195) to go with another MLB-worst OPS of .602.
While Murakami has shown elite figures through mid-April in bat speed (74.1 mph), average exit velocity (93.7 mph) and barrel percentage (22.9%), his whiff (41.3%) and strikeout (33.3%) rates were among the highest in MLB, according to Baseball Savant.
And while opponents’ initial scouting reports had them going after Murakami with high heat, they’ve swiftly zeroed in on a tendency to chase offspeed and breaking pitches — more than half of which Murakami has waved on.
But he says he’s fine-tuning his own response by putting in time with the Sox’ Trajekt machine, an artificial intelligence-powered system that can replicate any pitcher for batting practice.
“I was kind of letting the easy pitches pass by me, the breaking balls in early stages. But now I’m seeing the ball a lot better and I’m really getting into the plate with a lot more confidence,” Murakami said. “The routine really hasn’t changed that much. Obviously if a pitcher that is new is coming up, I will go in Trajekt and see a lot of pitches from them.”
Sox hitting director Ryan Fuller said he expects Murakami to “dial it back a little bit, see the ball a little bit deeper, use the whole field.”
“His ability to make adjustments at a really high level has been very impressive and you can see it. His swings are starting to be a little bit more fluid, finding the barrel a little bit more,” Fuller said.
General manager Chris Getz said he’s not worried about his big offseason splash.
“He is going through an adjustment period with catching up to some fastballs,” Getz said. “We know what he’s capable of doing. The great thing is he’s already shown [it] and I know that he believes in himself. Getting back into a home routine I think is going to serve him well.”
The Sox’ Trajekt stays at Rate Field, but a little more time to settle into his new city and an entirely new country could serve Murakami well, too. He got to take in his first Blackhawks game in a box at the United Center with his teammates on Monday, his first Chicago off-day.
“It was really exciting and fun,” Murakami said. “It’s a grind, I’m going home, hotel, facilities and then a routine of that daily. I really haven’t gotten into the fun part of enjoying Chicago yet, but it will come.”