White Sox's Munetaka Murakami on pace for MLB history not done since Joey Gallo
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White Sox's Munetaka Murakami on pace for MLB history not done since Joey Gallo originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Munetaka Murakami has lit the Major League Baseball world on fire during his first month and change with the Chicago White Sox.
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The Japanese slugger's 14 home runs are tied with Aaron Judge for the most in baseball.
Murakami has shown a powerful bat and steady eye, drawing a walk in 18.2% of his plate appearances. That ranks the left-handed hitter in the 96th percentile in the Majors.
There are obvious swing and miss concerns with Murakami, too. He reminds Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller of the "three true outcomes" king, Joey Gallo.
"In 2021, Joey Gallo either homered, walked, or struck out in 362 of his 616 plate appearances," Miller wrote Tuesday. "That is a 'three true outcomes' percentage of 58.8, and it is the highest such mark in any MLB season by a player who made at least 500 plate appearances."
Murakami is on pace to surpass Gallo's 58.8 three true outcomes percentage.
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"Well, White Sox rookie Munetaka Murakami might surpass that mark, already with 13 home runs, 27 walks and 50 strikeouts in his 149 plate appearances (60.4 percent)," Miller added.
Chicago may be willing to live with the strikeouts if Murakami keeps hitting bombs.
His transition from Nippon Professional Baseball to the United States seems to be a successful one thus far.
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