White Sox, Munetaka Murakami in no rush to extend contract

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The White Sox might have a choice regarding the future of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami in Chicago. But then again, they might have no choice at all. He will be a free agent after the 2027 season, unless there is an extended lockout.

And now the genie is out of the bottle. The other 29 teams that failed to sign him — either interested or not — have now seen what he has done in his six weeks since joining Major League Baseball on a two-year,
$34 million contract. The financial numbers the second time around will dwarf that.

The Sox should try to extend him right now before it’s too late, although a member of the organization said Wednesday there have been no current talks.

Murakami said through his interpreter, Kenzo Yagi, that he’s fine with all that.

“It’s very early in the season and still the start of my contract,” he said. “I’m really happy where I am at the moment. I’m not looking too far ahead, but if that time comes and the White Sox obviously feel happy with me and want to extend me more, I’d consider that an honor and that would be a happy situation for me, as well.”

For the moment, he’s returning to Rate Field, where the Sox open a nine-game home-stand Friday against the Mariners, not only having hit 14 homers with a .565 slugging percentage and .934 OPS, but helping recast the team with his leadership and personality.

From a sushi team dinner to coming off the bench Tuesday during a forced day off to take two at-bats and play first base the rest of the game, Murakami has shown himself as a selfless teammate as interested in turning the previously moribund Sox
into a winner as he is in establishing his own big-league presence.

“Let’s see what happens,” he said. “I’m just focusing on what’s in front of me and trying to get the results as much as possible. I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m trying to concentrate on what I can do at the moment.”

Murakami had a monster game Monday in the Sox’ 6-0 victory over the Angels, their only win during the three-game series. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, a single, his first major-league double and a mammoth two-run homer into the shrubbery beyond the center-field fence measuring 429 feet. His homer tied Aaron Judge at the time, but the Yankees’ star right fielder since hit No. 15 to retake the lead.

The homer came in the fourth inning and the double in the sixth, leading Murakami to muse after the game, “It was going to come sooner or later, so I’m really happy the double is out of the way.”

It’s not as if Murakami hasn’t hit doubles before. He hit 148 in eight seasons for the Yakult Swallows in Nippon Professional Baseball and 173 overall between foreign play and the World Baseball Classic. As far as homers are concerned, he hit 246 in Japan and 265 around the world.

Two of his biggest homers came in international play. The first helped Team Japan defeat Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic baseball finale for its first Olympic gold medal. Likewise in the 2023 WBC championship game, Murakami hit a two-run homer to tie the score late as again Japan beat the U.S. for the gold medal.

This is his pedigree.

Most Japanese players are creatures of habit, and when Sox manager Will Venable gave him a game off Tuesday, it might have stopped his momentum. He singled when he pinch-hit in the sixth inning but struck out in the eighth. He then followed that with four more whiffs in a row when he was back in the starting lineup Wednesday, the Golden Sombrero, if you will. He has struck out 55 times, which leads the league and is the big knock on his game.

Murakami didn’t grouse. He was told a day in advance about the night off. But Venable and the coaching staff are obviously feeling their way along on how to handle him.

“That was his role that night, and he played it well,” Venable said. “He had quality at-bats. Everybody has a job to do.”

No question, though, the contractual clock is ticking.

NOTE: The White Sox added right-hander Trevor Richards to the 26-man roster and optioned right-hander Jordan Leasure to Triple-A Charlotte. The Sox acquired Richards from the Phillies on Tuesday for cash.