GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Perhaps no one with a White Sox connection knows slugger Munetaka Murakami better than Shingo Takatsu.<\/p>\n
Takatsu, a sidearm closer who earned 27 saves with the Sox in 2004-05, was Murakami\u2019s manager in Japan for the last six seasons and was one of more than a dozen Japanese media members to watch his workout Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019ve only seen him one day,\u2019\u2019 said Takatsu, who now works for Fuji TV. \u2018\u2018But he has the ability to adapt and blend in very well. He\u2019s very friendly, so I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll make it [in the majors].\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Takatsu saw Murakami at his zenith in Japan, when he hit 56 home runs, drove in 134 runs and posted a 1.168 OPS in 141 games in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s hard to say that he\u2019ll do the same here,\u2019\u2019 Takatsu said through a translator. \u2018\u2018But he\u2019s a home-run hitter. He did very well in Japan, so I think he\u2019ll do well here.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Takatsu acknowledged it might take awhile for Murakami to adjust to workouts and daily life in the United States, but he knows the Sox have a reputation for taking care of Japanese players such as himself and second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, a member of their 2005 World Series championship team.<\/p>\n
Takatsu and former infielder Kaz Matsui, who played seven seasons with the Mets, Rockies and Astros, were among the former major-leaguers from Japan who watched Murakami.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We are getting an understanding of how big of a deal \u2018Mune\u2019 is,\u2019\u2019 Sox manager Will Venable said. \u2018\u2018Certainly, the attention he gets is well-deserved for what he\u2019s accomplished.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Venable said he wasn\u2019t sure whether Murakami would start at first base in the Sox\u2019 exhibition opener Friday against the Cubs, but he intends to give him and a few others players game opportunities before they depart for the World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n
Will power<\/p>\n
Venable addressed expectations in a team meeting before the Sox\u2019 first full-squad workout.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We told these guys there is no limit to what we believe they can do,\u2019\u2019 Venable said. \u2018\u2018It\u2019s about them and our support of helping them realize the belief we have in this club.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Workouts have been staggered into four groups, which will start their work 20 minutes apart, before the team reunites for fundamental drills.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018There will be lots of time for these guys to be on the field together, and some of the veteran guys and younger guys will be able to pick each other\u2019s brains,\u2019\u2019 Venable said.<\/p>\n
Crash course in center<\/p>\n
Luisangel Acuna has played all but three of his 580 major-league innings in the infield, but he is eager to show his talents in center field.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018To be honest with you, I feel more comfortable playing in center field,\u2019\u2019 said Acuna, who was acquired from the Mets last month in the trade for center fielder Luis Robert Jr.<\/p>\n
Acuna said he noticed a difference during his brief time in center for the Rangers\u2019 Double-A Frisco affiliate. He also played 17 games in center in the Venezuelan Winter League before his trade to the Sox.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019m going to play whatever they ask me to play, and I\u2019ll be ready for that,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Infielder Lenyn Sosa (birth of child) and Acuna (visa paperwork) didn\u2019t take part in the entire workout because they didn\u2019t arrive until Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We want to make sure we are getting them off on the right foot and be mindful of what they have been through these last couple of days with their travel,\u2019\u2019 Venable said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Perhaps no one with a White Sox connection knows slugger Munetaka Murakami better than Shingo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-482723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}