Munetaka Murakami Joins Shohei Ohtani, Seiya Suzuki With 4-Game HR Streak

With each passing day, Chicago White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami looks more and more like a star.

Murakami turned 26 years old in February and was out there for the taking for each club in Major League Baseball. We've broken down Murakami's start to his career and how the league completely whiffed on his market this past offseason. The White Sox were able to sign him for $34 million over two years. The league got it wrong with him and now the White Sox are seeing the reward. This was the case when we broke down the start to his big league career, and that was actually before he launched his ninth homer of the season on Tuesday.

MUNETAKA MURAKAMI HOMERS FOR A 4TH STRAIGHT GAME! pic.twitter.com/68FsSqpqi1
— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2026

Munetaka Murakami Is On A Special Run

Apr 21, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Chicago White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami (5) in the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

In the process, Murakami joined Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Chicago Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki as the only three Japanese-born players in big league history to hit a homer in four straight games, as shared by the league's official X account.

"Munetaka Murakami joins Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki as the only Japanese-born players to ever homer in 4 straight MLB games, the official MLB X account shared.

Munetaka Murakami joins Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki as the only Japanese-born players to ever homer in 4 straight MLB games 🤩 pic.twitter.com/1xnyhvcCz3
— MLB (@MLB) April 22, 2026

MLB's Sarah Langs shared that Murkami's nine homers are the most of any Japanese-born player in his first 23 games in the big leagues as well.

"Munetaka Murakami’s nine home runs are the most of any Japanese-born player in his first 23 MLB games," Langs wrote.

We're seeing a special run by the 26-year-old right now. Overall, he is slashing .234/.394/.584 with a .978 OPS, nine homers, 17 RBIs and 21 walks in 23 games played. On top of this, he's been average defensively and is in the 54th percentile in outs above average. He didn't enter the league with the expectations of being that he was some sort of big-time defensive player. He's a bat-first first baseman, but has been a bit better than expected defensively.

Murakami is the latest in a long line of Japanese-born players to find success in the big leagues. When you join a list with Ohtani and Suzuki, that's impressive. And, again, he's played just 23 games in the majors. If he's on this type of heater right now at 26 years old, imagine what he'll look like at 28 years old when he has multiple big league seasons under his belt?

Every team in Major League Baseball, regardless of market size, could've afforded the deal that the White Sox ultimately won the sweepstakes with. Frankly, he should've gotten more. He's proving that on a nightly basis.

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