History-making Munetaka Murakami is already 'one of the boys' with White Sox

PHOENIX — The debates are raging on the Chicago airwaves: Who will the Bears draft? Who should the Bulls hire? Will the Blackhawks ever win again?

Are the Cubs are built for October? Meanwhile, ever so quietly on the South Side of town, one of the best stories in all of baseball is materializing. The name is Munetaka Murakami, and the Chicago White Sox slugger has burst onto the scene as one of the game’s premier home-run hitters in the infancy of the 2026 season.

Murakami has already hit 10 home runs – one shy of the MLB lead – and tied a White Sox franchise record by homering in five consecutive games. He also has the most homers by a Japanese-born player in the first 25 games of a career, 42 games earlier than four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani in his 2018 rookie year. If you care to dream, Murakami heads into the White Sox’s homestand beginning tonight at Rate Field against the Washington Nationals on pace to hit 65 homers with 123 RBIs and 136 walks this season.

“I’m really enjoying myself," Murakami told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m getting more comfortable every day. I’m getting used to the different rules and different playing styles in the major league.