Before Saturday’s 8-3 win over the Cubs, White Sox manager Will Venable didn’t seem too worried about Munetaka Murakami.
The early-season sensation who sparked the franchise, Murakami had gone six games without a home run. During that same stretch, Murakami hit just .158, striking out seven times.
“Obviously the swing-and-miss is part of his game, there’s a bunch of walks in there,” Venable said. “The only thing we haven’t seen the last couple of days is the homers. I think he’ll be just fine and I think he’s doing great.”
Venable knew what he was talking about.
Murakami ended his dry spell in the third inning. Facing flyball pitcher Jameson Taillon on a warm night, Murakami poked at a changeup on the outer half of the plate and hit it just over a leaping Pete Crow-Armstrong and the fence in deep left-center for his 16th home run of the year.
That home run was just the start for Murakami. In the fifth, Murakami again conquered a deep part of the park, hitting a two-run home run over the wall in right-center field for his first multi-homer game with the Sox.
Murakami was not alone with the power. Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Andrew Benintendi also hit homers for the Sox.
For Murakami, hitting home runs against the rival Cubs in front of a sellout crowd of 38,795 is one of his biggest Sox moments. And two months into his MLB career, the ups and downs are already part of the Murakami experience.
From April 5-12, Murakami went homerless. He struck out 10 times in that period and hit .043, perhaps reminding people why his free-agent market this winter was not as robust or lucrative as expected. But not long after, Murakami hit home runs in five straight games, sparking chatter about his pace for homers in a season and a hope for power every time he stepped to the plate.
“Credit to him for setting that expectation,” Venable said. “I think it was the first few homers to start the year, and then there was a little period where he didn’t and answering the same types of questions, and I think he hit like eight homers in 10 days. So Mune will be just fine, just hasn’t hit a homer in a couple of days.”
Murakami was expected to be a “three true outcomes” hitter, one who either hits a home run, strikes out or walks often. That has not been wrong – entering Saturday, Murakami had 15 home runs, one behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the American League lead. His 35 walks were fourth in the AL, and his 64 strikeouts were the most in the American League.
The strikeouts – and there will be plenty more – won’t be much of an issue if Murakami continues to walk. On Thursday, Murakami walked three times, already the third time he’s done that this season.
“There’s been some adjustability at the plate,” Venable said. “We saw [Friday] night he did a nice job of battling an at-bat and hitting the ball to left field. I think he had three walks before that, the game before. He looks fine.”
And even if Murakami is not being productive, Venable thinks he can deal with the adversity.
“He’s got a good attitude, it seems like he’s doing just fine,” Venable said. “He continues to be the same person. These guys expect a lot of themselves and go out and work extremely hard to perform well on the field. I think he’s OK with not hitting homers for a couple of days, [and] I’m sure he’ll be in a good spot to be productive.”