Munetaka

Murakami

Murakami opened the scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly in his first career postseason at-bat before helping to manufacture two additional runs when he reached base and came around to score in the fifth and seventh innings, respectively. The 26-year-old rookie slugger finished the regular season with 35 home runs in 553 plate appearances, effectively silencing any fantasy analysts who questioned whether his contact issues would hold him back in his big-league debut.

Murakami blasted a 403-foot homer off of Tomoyuki Sugano in the bottom of the first inning to put the White Sox up 2-0, and would get the best of Sugano again in the seventh inning on another solo homer to extend Chicago’s lead to 4-1. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Murakami would single to drive home Sam Antonacci, pushing his RBI total to 77 on the season. Murakami is now sitting on 35 homers with two games left to go in the regular season for the White Sox.

Murakami’s home run was his 33rd of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Royals reliever Tony Gonsolin in the seventh inning. Murakami has two home runs and seven RBI over his last five games. He’s hitting .203 with an .817 OPS and 72 RBI with five games left in the regular season.

Murakami got the White Sox on the board in impressive fashion in the first inning on Thursday, crushing a first-pitch sinker from Framber Valdez for a towering 423-foot (109.1-mph EV) three-run blast to center. That would be all of the offense that the White Sox would need. The 26-year-old rookie slugger is now slashing .205/.346/.471 with 32 homers, 68 RBI and a 183/87 K/BB ratio in 512 plate appearances.

Murakami hasn’t been a platoon bat for the White Sox this season, but he has slashed just .179/.331/.368 with six homers, 18 RBI and a 54/26 K/BB ratio over 145 plate appearances against southpaws this season, so maybe this will be a trend going forward. Miguel Vargas will shift over to first base with Colson Montgomery covering the hot corner and Luisangel Acuna drawing a start at shortstop and batting ninth against Cardinals’ left-hander Matthew Liberatore.

Murakami is still getting his homers and walks, but since returning from the injured list in June, he’s totaled 34 hits and 87 strikeouts in 52 games. If not for his absence, he’d probably be pushing the major league record of 223 strikeouts established by Mark Reynolds in 2009. He’s at 167 through 109 games. If he’d maintained that rate, he’d have recorded his 224th strikeout in his 147th game played.

Murakami’s home run was his 30th of the season. He hit a two-run shot off Taj Bradley in the first inning. Murakami had been in a 1-for-24 (.042) slump over his last seven games entering play Saturday. The home run was his first since August 18 against the Cubs, a span of 16 games. Murakami is hitting .211 with an .832 OPS and 61 RBI on the year.

Murakami got too far under the ball today, hitting flies with launch angles of 40, 54 and 72 degrees that all combined had a .010 xBA. Since hitting his 29th homer on Aug. 18, he’s 4-for-41 with no RBI in 11 games.

Murakami drew a walk in the first inning, then led off the third with a solo homer off Kevin Gausman, a 111.1 mph blast at 406 feet. It was his third home run in five games. The 26-year-old rookie slugger is up to 29 homers, 67 runs scored, and 58 RBI in just 393 plate appearances while slashing .234/.372/.545.

That homer puts Murakami up to 28 homers on the season; an impressive total even before you consider he missed time with his hamstring injury. The 26-year-old rookie has gone deep four times in the month of August, which has helped compensate for his less-than-ideal .188 average for the month. Murakami is going to frustrate at times — that’s a bit of an understatement — but the power production helps turn the bitter into better.