Weakness in 150km fastball How likely is Japan's 26-year-old young home run king to succeed in ML

Nov 14, 2025

The 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) match between the Japanese national team and Hanshin was held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, on the 6th. In the top of the second inning, Japanese national team Murakami Munetaka is hitting. Osaka= Reporter Huh Sang-wook's wook@sportschosun.com/2023.03.06/

2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) match between Korea and Japan was held at Tokyo Dome, Japan on the 10th. Japan's Murakami Munetaka is taking a hit. Tokyo (Japan) = Reporter's book@sportschosun.com/2023.03.10/

Doubts remain in the U.S. about Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami (Yakurt), who challenged the Major League and applied for posting.

It is certain that he is capable of hitting home runs, but he is not sure whether he will be able to succeed in the Major League due to his poor contact ability.

Jack Bear, a reporter for Yahoo Sports in the U.S., said, `Murakami is likely to sign a nine-digit contract (more than 100 million U.S. dollars, 146.9 billion won).' However, `It is certain that if he hits the bat, he will damage the opponent, but the question is whether he can hit the ball with a bat.'

Murakami had a high strikeout rate in the Japanese league. When he won three gold medals in 2022, he also recorded a swing and miss rate of 31.7% and a strikeout rate of 20.9%. This season, it got worse with a swing and miss rate of 36.7% and a strikeout rate of 28.6%.

Murakami's problem is that he is weak in fastballs because he is weak in Japan's sophisticated control and inducement, so it may be different if he faces pitchers who are going head-to-head in the Major League.

Murakami's contact rate for fastballs over 93 miles (about 150 kilometers) was very bad. In fact, he had a strikeout rate of 41.7% this season.

In the Major League, 62.8% of 391,173 fastballs thrown by pitchers exceeded 93 miles. Looking at this data, it seems that Murakami's chances of success in the Major League will inevitably be questioned.

Japanese hitters had difficulty coping with the ball quickly after moving to the Major League. In the case of Seiya Suzuki, the swing and miss rate rose 8.2 percent in 2022, his first year at the Chicago Cubs, to 24.7 percent.

Murakami is a very young hitter who was born in 2000 and will turn 26 next year, so he has a higher interest in the major leagues.

Won the Central League home run king in 2021 and 2022. In particular, he hit 56 home runs in 2022, recording the most home runs in a single season for Japanese batters. In particular, in 2022, he won the batting king (0.381) and the RBI king (134), achieving the triple crown.

He played in only 56 games due to injury this season, but he showed a powerful ability to hit 22 home runs. However, the contact level fell with a batting average of 273.

He had a career batting average of 270, 246 home runs and 647 RBIs in Japan until this season.

Murakami's posting began at 8 a.m. Eastern time on the 8th. In the case of Japan, the deadline for negotiations is 5 p.m. on December 22nd (7 a.m. on December 23rd in Korea), which will be possible to negotiate for 45 days if you post.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.