{"id":269039,"date":"2025-11-08T02:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/269039\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T02:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T02:27:14","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-have-their-eyes-on-japanese-star-slugger-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/269039\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays have their eyes on Japanese star slugger: report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Blue Jays are in the hunt for the next big Japanese star who is looking to make his way to the major leagues.<\/p>\n<p>After a push to the World Series, the Blue Jays are reportedly showing interest in Munetaka Murakami, a 25-year-old star infielder who plays for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, while also representing his country at the 2023 World Baseball Classic.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JeffPassan\/status\/1986815305918623838\" rel=\"nofollow\">ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan<\/a> first reported the news of Murakami tossing his name in the hat towards MLB teams, calling it \u201cone of the most anticipated free agencies of the winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And the Blue Jays have had their eyes on the star for years, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/bnicholsonsmith\/status\/1986817820303450353\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sportsnet\u2019s Ben Nicholson-Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the process won\u2019t be simple.<\/p>\n<p>Per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/munetaka-murakami-posted-for-mlb-teams-in-free-agency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">MLB.com\u2019s Mark Feinsand<\/a>, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, and Boston Red Sox are all also interested in his services.<\/p>\n<p>Murakami has a 45-day window that opens Saturday to sign a contract with an MLB team, giving him up until Dec. 22 to strike a deal.<\/p>\n<p>What would the Blue Jays be getting in Murakami?<\/p>\n<p>Mostly, he\u2019s known for his power.<\/p>\n<p>Standing at 6-foot-2 and 213 pounds, he\u2019s hit 246 home runs in 892 games as a pro in Japan. His 56 home runs in 2022 set a league record for most home runs by a Japanese player. In an injury-riddled 2025 season, he put up 22 home runs with 47 RBIs and a 1.043 OPS in 56 games.<\/p>\n<p>The move would certainly shake up Toronto\u2019s infield, which is already in a state of flux as the Jays await to see how Bo Bichette\u2019s free agency plays out.<\/p>\n<p>Murakami has primarily played as a third baseman in Japan, though he has also sporadically suited up at first base and in the outfield when necessary.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, unless his free agency is wrapped up quickly, don\u2019t expect this to be the last update about the Jays and Murakami, as MLB signing periods have a tendency to drag on for weeks and even months sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>You might also like:<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyhive.com\/toronto\/toronto-blue-jays-considering-all-options-closer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Sounds like Toronto Blue Jays might choose another closer next season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Blue Jays are in the hunt for the next big Japanese star who is looking to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-269039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}